4. The Roy Hill Ore Car
They say just
a Box On
Wheels
With only
three
moving parts
And if one thing goes
wrong…..you have a
thousand problems
5. Design Development – Safety In Design
• Roy Hill Project Engineering Guidelines
• Design Assurance and Safety in Design
• Design Reviews with SCT and CSR at 15%, 85% and 100% design
• Review of the FEA for the ore car body
• Design calculations verified by an independent engineering authority.
• Safety in Design Hazard Identification (HAZID), Hazard in Operation
(HAZOP), risk workshops and desktop studies.
• At each of the design review stages risks were reviewed and the
hierarchy of controls used in design to manage those risks.
6. Design Development – As a Rail “System”
Rail Centre Line in 2012
Construction in 2014
Cuttings
Embankments
7. The Roy Hill Bogie
Low Friction Centre Bowl
Amsted SSRM Bogie
Variable Damping
Stucki Side Bearing
10. ORE CAR CONSTRUCTION – Quality
Assurance
SCT 3rd Party Inspectors and Roy Hill Site Surveillance
First Article Inspections
Material Testing
Accelerated
Fatigue Testing
12. Type Testing – FAT, SAT and Commissioning
Roy Hill AA for FAT
Witnessing Track Testing at MOR
Test Track Beijing
13. MAINTENANCE STRATEGY
OEM Recommendations and Improvements through RCM
Use of available technology
High frequency condition monitoring including
Wayside detectors
ECP systems data
Roll-by inspections
Scheduled maintenance
Component change out program.
This is the first time that an integrated maintenance strategy will be rolled out on a
heavy haul railway incorporating wayside detector technologies with ECP brake system
monitoring and brings significant operational benefits.
17. Workshop Activities and Block Changeout
Main Workshop Facility
Rolling Stock Wash
Ore Car Lifting
18. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Overall the key performance indicators will be availability >97% and reliability of <0.5
Unscheduled Workshop activities per 1,000,000 ore car km which is equivalent to 75
unscheduled workshop activities per year for the Roy Hill Fleet.
• Wheel Wear
• Brake Block Wear
• Draft Gear performance
21. Draft Gear Performance
Knuckle, coupler and yoke failures
Reduce in train forces –
– Design of the railway
– Operation of the rail car dumper
– Extensively Modelled throughout design development.
This was achieved by keeping the vertical curvature of the design to
minimum levels with a ruling grade of 0.36% or 1/278 and with the
use of GE LocotrolTM Distributed Power with a 2 locomotive x 116 ore
cars x 1 locomotive x 116 ore cars configuration.
22. Cascading Blocks
• Cascading Blocks -
Rotation of the ore cars
through the consist
during block change-
out.
• Magnetic Particle
Inspection (MPI) of
knuckles and other key
draft gear components
at workshop activities.
23. CONCLUSION
• The Roy Hill Project has been an opportunity for those involved to optimise the ore car design while incorporating
many tried and tested technologies into a single design for the first time realising many operational benefits.
• Ensuring construction was delivered compliant with the design and the level of quality required throughout was a
focus for the EPC, Samsung C & T, China Southern Rail and the Roy Hill Approval Authority together.
• The maintenance strategy has been developed upon the technology available in the rolling stock systems and the
suite of wayside detectors used for continuous monitoring of the fleet underpinned on good maintenance planning,
execution discipline and continuous improvement.
•
• The key focus on performance in particular around minimising in train forces, brake system and the rail/wheel
interface designs ensures Roy Hill’s success in the key areas of draw gear, brake and bogie performance and rail /
wheel interaction.
•
• This will provide Roy Hill with significant operational efficiencies inline with Roy Hill Values and the requirements of
a margin driven business.
• Recognising the significant benefits this brings to the Roy Hill demand chain and ensuring these benefits are
realised in operation will be a challenge for the start up team as the new railway gets under operation and
throughout the course of the ore car life.
Thank IHHA for accepting this paper on the Roy Hill ore car and Roy Hill for allowing me to present at the conference.
The Roy Hill Iron Ore Project includes
A new 55MTPA iron ore mine and process plant
A 344km 40TAL heavy haul railway system from mine to port;
And new port facilities at Boodarie Industrial Estate, south west of Port Hedland, Western Australia.
The railway will operate 5 x iron ore services daily, a fuel train service for the mine and work trains as required.
The rolling stock fleet will consist of 21 GE Evolution locomotives with NYAB ECP Brakes and GE Locotrol (different to Rio Tinto), 1196 ore cars, 10 Ballast Cars, 10 Side Dump Cars and a ballast plough built by China Southern Rail.
Trains will run in a 2 loco, 116 ore cars, 1 loco 116 ore car configuration with 2 bankers for 30km out of the mine.
First ore on ship is currently on track for the 30th of September 2015.
Designed to optimise dynamic performance, brake systems, the rail and wheel interface and reduce operational risks.
The Roy Hill concept design was developed in consultation with industry experts, built by CSR and will be the first ore car in the Pilbara to incorporate stand alone ECP brakes and an Automatic Park Brake.
This provides for significant advantages in operation - Explain
Key to Park Brake operation - depletion of supply air as opposed to brake pipe air.
Amsted SSRM variable damped bogies with a low friction centre bowl
Constant contact side bearers
Bogie mounted brake cylinders
Carbon steel frame
Stainless steel wall sheeting
70m3 capacity
21.6t tare mass
F type couplers and drawbar in a two car tandem configuration.
Cooperation with the Engineering Procurement Contractor, Samsung and CSR during site surveillance has been integral to ensuring technical compliance and a high standard of construction.
Safety In Design
The Roy Hill design development process detailed in the Roy Hill Project Engineering Guidelines included a very robust Design Assurance and Safety in Design element.
The design assurance element included reviews with SCT and CSR at 15%, 85% and 100% design with a review of the FEA for the ore car body and bogie castings and design calculations verified by an independent engineering authority.
Safety in Design included Hazard Identification (HAZID), Hazard in Operation (HAZOP), risk workshops and desktop studies.
At each of the design review stages risks were reviewed and the hierarchy of controls used in design to manage those risks.
The design development of the wagon was undertaken in conjunction with track design.
The Basis of Design for the track and formations included minimum radius mainline curves of 1000m.
The ruling grade out of the mine is 0.6% to the 308km mark which requires banking assistance and 0.36% thereafter.
The vertical curvature design was developed to minimise in train forces while balancing the cut and fill requirements across the alignment.
Intensive modelling of each design iteration was undertaken to prove the outcomes were within the target buff and draft forces for operation for both the mainline and rail car dumper.
Roy Hill called for the AMSTED Super Service Ride Master bogie as a proven design and included a preference for a no weld overhaul.
This includes wear liners for brake beam slides, centre bowl, pedestal roof and friction wedges. The bogies are fitted with Wabtec TMXTM bogie mounted brakes system.
The specification for the wheelset was for a 40t nominal axle load and 43t overload.
The Brenco Aubrid PlusTM was chosen as the bearing for this application. The Ausbrid PlusTM is a railroad tapered roller bearing designed for 45t axle loads.
The SSRM Bogie underwent extensive modelling in accordance with the Australian RISSB Standards for dynamic performance. Further testing has been undertaken at the Chinese Ministry for Railways Test Track in Bejing at various speeds up to 90km/hr demonstrating the bogie to be extremely stable.
Roy Hill undertook a number of reviews of the wheel and rail interaction during design development which resulted in the Roy Hill Modified Wheel Profile design or WP1. This wheel profile is very similar to many of the current wheel profiles in use in heavy haul and has a high degree of conicity near the root of the flange. On further analysis this area of the wheel profile has been revised and the 1:40 taper has been extended to reduce the high Hertzian stresses at the gauge corner on 1000m curves. This design now known as WP2, combined with the low friction centre bowl will provide good steering for the rail car fleet and optimum performance in this area.
Challenge - AAR requirement NBR of 10% in particular for the APB
Actual requirement for loaded holding on all grades on the Roy Hill Railway was just 3.4%.
A fit for purpose proposal was considered along with an additional TSPB per ore car pair. The third TSPB would provide additional parking brake force and achieve the 10% however would incur a tare weight penalty and was not desirable.
A review of the park brake calculation identified a very low factor being used for brake rigging efficiency (more aligned with traditional park brakes.
Roy Hill discussed this with the OEM Wabtec and challenged the co-efficient which was reconsidered and increased from 0.67% to 0.75%.
When using this factor the calculated NBR was 10.8%.
The actual NBR under test was found to be 12.8% and easily met the AAR Standard as required.
The Roy Hill ore car side wall was developed as a unique design by CSR with a free flowing wall shape to reduce product hang up during unloading while also adding strength to the structure.
To prove the design, a prototype was fabricated and installed onto an existing gondola wagon used in domestic Chinese service.
This side wall shape was then tested during unloading at a steel mill in Wuhan and proven to allow free flowing product with no hang ups and was subsequently adopted for construction.
Roy Hill in conjunction with the SCT and CSR developed a comprehensive QA plan
The QA plan for ore car construction included design and document reviews,
First article inspections, weld procedure review, welder qualification verification and 3rd party inspection.
A number of sub-suppliers were submitted to the Roy Hill AA for review and approval in accordance with the Engineering Guidelines that required proven Pilbara experience of manufacture, supply and performance.
Alternatively, other proven heavy haul suppliers were reviewed and approved by the Roy Hill AA and accepted where appropriate.
Scrutiny of alternative suppliers was rigorous and considered on a risk basis.
Quality verification was undertaken by Samsung and their Third Party Inspectors and CSR.
Following on from supplier approvals and first article inspections, the Roy Hill Approval Authority established a very early site surveillance presence at the CSR factory in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province in China with full cooperation from SCT and CSR.
Sub supplier component delivery, packaging, quality and performance were checked on receipt.
Jigs for sub-equipment assemblies and welding procedures were checked for compliance with Australian Standards and other AAR and European equivalents.
Roy Hill AA also attended daily production meetings, monitored SCT Third Party Inspectors work, findings and actions and discussed concerns identified in the workshop of the manufacturing process being established.
The quality of finishes was highly scrutinised and rapid improvements noted in early works.
The Ore Car fleet underwent a full suite of static and dynamic testing during Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) to validate the ore car design.
Factory Acceptance Testing included all the requirements to meet the AS7500 Series or equivalent standards to confirm modelling with static testing.
Site acceptance testing at Port Hedland includes visual Inspection, ECP single car test, ride performance Testing and Automatic Equipment Identification Tag checks.
Once SATs for tandem ore car pairs are completed further ore car train commissioning will be undertaken and will include unloaded tests for static ECP brake operation, apply, release, emergency and switch mode operation.
After commissioning at the train load out, loaded braking tests will be undertaken on the return journey to Port Hedland where rail car dumper testing will take place.
The Roy Hill ore car maintenance strategy will be the first fully integrated plan that encapsulates the technology benefits of the ECP Brake System and Wayside Detectors to reduce risk and improve availability.
The plan is based on –
High frequency condition monitoring with the wayside detectors;
and ECP systems data downloaded through the WiMax Network off the locomotive;
Roll-by inspections
Opportunity maintenance scheduled on wheel condition
Integrated with a component change out program.
Roy Hill have invested in a number of technologies to support the condition monitoring of the rolling stock fleet with a full range of wayside detectors to compliment the on board condition monitoring of the rail cars.
Wayside detectors will be used to monitor wheel profiles, wheel impact loads, journal bearings, brake blocks, bogies, over braking and stuck brakes.
The detectors will be located at the Roy Hill Super Site at the 33.6km chainage and other strategic locations on the Roy Hill Railway.
These systems will raise alarms to Train Control at the Roy Hill Remote Operations Centre in Perth, directly to Train Crew for critical events and generate reports to Rolling Stock Maintenance for proactive maintenance requirements.
The frequency of inspection will be twice daily (loaded and unloaded), for all wayside detectors at the Roy Hill Super Site and eight times daily at other HBD/HWD locations.
The use of these wayside detectors will significantly improve the integrity of train operations and provide data for proactive intervention which will aid to prevent out of course events and in traffic failures.
The strategy for on train inspections and maintenance was developed utilising ECP brake integrity data and end of train monitoring.
Data can be downloaded through the Wimax Network
For railways operating block unit trains without this technology, typical brake leakage and continuity testing requirements are undertaken on a 14, 21 or 42 day cycle and can take up to 14 hours duration, significantly impacting operational availability.
At Roy Hill, daily train make-up following unloading will provide data from ECP, Distributed Power and Automatic Train Protection set up at the head end.
Along with the use of the End of Train Monitor data, Roy Hill will use this information to be able to determine leakage rates and brake pipe continuity from the head end of the train.
This will provide for cycle time savings while improving testing integrity and overall rolling stock reliability.
While the wayside condition monitoring strategy has been designed to minimise any risks of likely failure modes, roll by inspections will be undertaken to further reduce the risk of unexpected failures of these less likely failure modes.
This inspection will give some indication as to the condition of the vehicles:
Overall integrity;
Wheels;
Bearings;
Vehicle stability;
Brake system condition; and
Draft gear system condition.
Roll-bys will be carried out on the approach to the rail yards on straight and level track with no welds.
Roy Hill will manage scheduled maintenance using block change out in the shadow of unloading activities.
Advantages
Minimal disruption to train operations
And Ore car movements in the shadow of the second portion being unloaded.
Balanced workload of ore cars coming into the workshop
Workshop activities will be planned around wheel maintenance and this is expected to be at 2 years.
Rail / Wheel interface is a critical element of managing a heavy haul railway.
Adopted well proven Pilbara railway wheel and rail profiles and have analysed the performance to optimise the designs for the most effective outcomes.
Amsted Super Service Ride Master bogie fitted with the Rosstuff G low friction centre bowl liner is expected to provide all tread steering and very low flange wear for the minimum 1000m curves in design.
Wheel maintenance will be weighted heavily on tread wear with minimal material removal to restore the profile.
Overall the key performance indicators will be availability >97% and reliability of <0.5 Unscheduled Workshop activities per 1,000,000 ore car km which is equivalent to 75 unscheduled workshop activities per year for the Roy Hill Fleet.
Other KPIs will be based on wheels, brake blocks and draft gear performance.
Minimum mainline curves for the Roy Hill Railway are 1000m.
As such, wheel flange wear is expected to be minimal with the only contact of the wheel flange with the gauge face of the rail being expected in the 450m curves at the mine and port balloon loops.
Designed for all tread steering, the dominant wheel wear mode will be tread wear.
The Roy Hill wheel profile has been designed with a 1:40 taper closely matched to the 1:40 super elevation of the rail and will result in quite a wide contact patch.
The condemning criteria for tread wear is 3mm depth at the tape line and the plan is to re-profile every two years. At 250,000km per year the tread wear rate is expected to be 0.6mm/100,000km.
This should allow for up to 7 cycles out of the wheelsets before re-wheeling is required at around 3.5 million km providing significant cost benefits for Roy Hill.
It is known that the introduction of ECP Brakes can lead to higher rates of brake block wear and this is an area that will be closely monitored on the Roy Hill ore car fleet.
It has been reported that other operators are replacing brake blocks every 125,000km on campaign at 6 monthly intervals.
Train driving methodology will be critical in this regards and automatic downloads and reviews will be undertaken to assist in the coaching of train crews in this area.
Roy Hill will have a Sydec Train Driving Simulator in the Port Hedland Administration facility for driver training.
The brake block wear monitor will allow Roy Hill to track the wear rates of brake blocks and provide accurate feedback to train crew on the effect of driving methodologies.
This equipment will also allow for very accurate planning for campaign change outs.
Knuckle, coupler and yoke failures have been a challenge for many of the Pilbara and other heavy haul operations across Australia.
The Roy Hill strategy in this area has been to reduce in train forces through the design of the railway and operation of the rail car dumper and was extensively modelled throughout design development.
This was achieved by keeping the vertical curvature of the design to minimum levels with a ruling grade of 0.36% or 1/278 and with the use of GE LocotrolTM Distributed Power with a 2 locomotive x 116 ore cars x 1 locomotive x 116 ore cars configuration.
Cascading Blocks – Is the Roy Hill plan to take ore cars due for maintenance in blocks from the rear of the train and place ore cars fresh out of maintenance at the front of the consist is designed to ensure the draw gear with the highest degree of technical integrity always operate in the highest risk area of the consist.
As the length of time in service has an influence on the risk of draw gear failures, moving the ore cars towards the rear of the consist through the block change-out will have the ore cars with the longest in service performance cascading towards the area in the consist with lower in train forces.
While in the workshop, the maintenance strategy for draft gear is based around Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI) of knuckles and other key draft gear components at workshop activities and rotation of the ore cars through the consist during block change-out.
The Roy Hill Project has been an opportunity for those involved to optimise the ore car design while incorporating many tried and tested technologies into a single design for the first time realising many operational benefits.
Ensuring construction was delivered compliant with the design and the level of quality required throughout was a focus for the EPC, Samsung C & T, China Southern Rail and the Roy Hill Approval Authority together.
The maintenance strategy has been developed upon the technology available in the rolling stock systems and the suite of wayside detectors used for continuous monitoring of the fleet underpinned on good maintenance planning, execution discipline and continuous improvement.
The key focus on performance in particular around minimising in train forces, brake system and the rail/wheel interface designs ensures Roy Hill’s success in the key areas of draw gear, brake and bogie performance and rail / wheel interaction.
This will provide Roy Hill with significant operational efficiencies inline with Roy Hill Values and the requirements of a margin driven business.
Recognising the significant benefits this brings to the Roy Hill demand chain and ensuring these benefits are realised in operation will be a challenge for the start up team as the new railway gets under operation and throughout the course of the ore car life.
Roy Hill Holdings would like to acknowledge the cooperation and contribution made by the EPC Samsung C & T and their many suppliers and sub suppliers including CSR, AMSTED and NYAB.
