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| Re: LIRR DE/DMS Some reasons why (576930) | |||
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Re: LIRR DE/DMS Some reasons why |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Tue Feb 26 10:18:55 2008, in response to Re: LIRR DE/DMS Some reasons why, posted by johnnytrains on Tue Feb 26 09:56:16 2008. So what is the answer?You'll have to get some smarter and more experienced folks than me to answer that! But with the Socrates disclaimer that my wisdom lies in knowing that I know very little, let me spout off like a fool. Short-term, I think they should try to use plain old cookie cutter scientific method to identify correlations of problems with various phenomena. Use sensors and all of that to help. Then with this data, maybe the engineers can try to reason their way to experiments that try to narrow the problems down to causes. And then try to eliminate one or more events in the causal chain from happening. Of course, that assumes that the things aren't total lemons at the physical level itself. If the locomotives are physically defective - let's say that they were delivered using sub-standard materials in the circuitry or body or both, then fixing that problem might require replacing large parts of the locomotives. But officially, it's not really known what the problem or problems are, just what the symptoms are. In line with what Train Dude said in dialogue with me here, I also think that outsiders who haven't studied this particular puzzle should be brought in. New eyes, new brains, maybe new ideas. What's really distressing is that it's reported by LIRR that between 30-50% of DM30 failures can't be explained. So far as speculation for when there's a decision coming on what to do next, I've read that the EMD consultant has 2 years left on his/her contract. I can't imagine if the reliability doesn't increase that they'll be renewing it. There are also people from Siemens visiting regularly too. Apparently LIRR's Morris Park shops are also in need of an upgrade, since they lack the facilities to more quickly repair the l0comotive problems that can be identified. Convert DMs to DEs??? That's definitely not the solution. The DE30 MDBF was at a high point in 2006, reported at 23.5k miles, but for 2007 thru July it was down to 18K miles. Theoretically, you could just isolate the locomotives as much as possible, e.g., change at Babylon/Huntington/Ronkonkoma/Mineola/Jamaica but if you don't improve the reliability, you're still not satisfying the ridership. I think they have to try the scientific approach as have some people who can detect materials defects check out that front too. Long term, they've got to decide what LIRR's priorities are, e.g., 'we want to electrify the entire Montauk Line plus Central Branch', 'we want to operate lots more dual mode service', 'we want to electrify third rail style to Yaphank', 'we want to electrify using AC catenary to Wading River, etc.' Then we can talk about how to get those things down. |
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