Abstract
Crafting systemic engineering fundamentals into a structured design model that includes demand definition, systemic design, and efficient operations enables the railway design process to achieve viable solutions. The design model incorporates types of efficiencies that are fundamental to successfully operating new railway systems. A relationship between the geometrical layout of the new track and the technical efficiency of the dynamic hauling process and fuel consumption was determined. New results were obtained from simulation work done on the operating efficiency of the crossing of trains, and cast new light on the traditional formulae used for track capacity. The effect of total systemic efficiency on the resultant cycle time and rolling stock fleet sizes is demonstrated in this paper. The rail tariff and the internal rate of return (IRR) are interlinked, and the effect of inefficiencies on the performance and returns of the new railway project is illustrated.
Highlights
New dedicated rail freight projects for the export of mining products have been designed and constructed in Southern Africa in the past two decades
‘Full productive efficiency’, as it relates to the railway environment, refers to the lack of waste [1], [2]
The inefficiency of a railway operating system stems from wasted time and, as the resulting increase in the turnaround time (TAT) or cycle time causes an increase in production factors [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]
Summary
New dedicated rail freight projects for the export of mining products have been designed and constructed in Southern Africa in the past two decades. These design processes were mostly infrastructure-based and were divorced from operating practices. This paper attempts to illustrate the effect of efficient operating processes on the performance of railway systems and the capacity of capital-intensive production factors such as rolling stock and the associated returns on investment. A design model was developed to integrate and optimise the production factors and to determine the financial viability of a dedicated rail freight project at the pre-feasibility stage of the development of a pit-to-port railway project. The effect of delays in the operating of trains was simulated and included in a haulage submodel as the input to a financial cash flow model
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