Efficient use and development of wheel-working machines for the locomotive facility needs

Introduction. The study is intended to provide guidelines to reduce the machining time of locomotive wheel pairs by analysing the design and performance of existing types of wheel turning and milling lathes of domestic and foreign production in locomotive service depots. The observed growth in traffic intensity and volumes on Russian railways requires ensuring reliability and improving the performance of locomotives. The wheel pair is one of the most metal-intensive and critical elements of the undercarriage. The wheel and rail interaction causes a range of physical and mechanical phenomena inflicting intensive thermomechanical damage on the tyre tread surface: undercutting of the ridge, rolling, slides. Removal of tread surface defects requires turning the wheel pair on machine tools, until the required initial profile is obtained, which is a time-consuming process. Therefore, an important task is to minimise turning costs, which requires the use of the newest technological solutions implemented in new machine-tools, including imported equipment.Materials and Methods. The article analyses global machine-tool industry trends and their impact on the machinetool market in Russia and considers types, models, comparative characteristics, experience in operation, maintenance and repair of locomotives using wheel turning and milling machines by 96 locomotive service depots in 13 branches of LocoTech-Service LLC.Results. The paper examines the fleet of wheel turning machines (types, design, condition), calculated the load of the machines, and considered foreign-made analogues. A numerically controlled mobile wheel turning machine with a profile design has been developed based on locomotive service depot re-equipment needs and wheel turning market data.Discussion and Conclusion. The work identified the bottlenecks of the machine fleet operation and provided data on its obsolescence and selection of analogues from foreign manufacturers. Domestic machines are more adapted to Russian operating conditions, foreign models have advantages in numerical control systems. The paper proposes a number of design and technological, staff training, and production organisation measures to eliminate bottlenecks in wheel pair machining.