FAULTY PARTS IN RAIL & THEIR FINANCIAL IMPACT FOR TRANSIT AUTHORITIES…

FAULTY PARTS IN RAIL & THEIR FINANCIAL IMPACT FOR TRANSIT AUTHORITIES…

One of the major problems for transit authorities and their maintenance personnel is the unexpected maintenance down time due to failing equipment and components. Besides the additional amount of resources and manpower going into the repair of the vehicle, the loss of revenue for a non-operating vehicle is enormous – especially if the failing equipment is technically a non-critical component but must be replaced due to safety and regulatory requirements. The frustration increases if the equipment in question fails on a regular basis and there appears to be no long-term solution to the on-going issues. The list of these types of parts is long yet the material costs are relatively low – in some case just a few dollars. However, they manage to incur thousands of Dollars in additional maintenance costs as a result of these critical yet inexpensive failures. Often a $2 Item becomes a $1, 000 replacement. The components in question are often lights, indicators and most often – mechanical switches and push buttons. You can find them in passenger compartments to open a door, request a stop, flush a toilet or call for assistance. They are also predominant in the driver’s cabin on the dashboard. Breaking a push button is easily done – spilled beverages, careless usage, or vandalism from both passenger or driver are just some of the reasons why push buttons fail – but one thing is for sure, they will fail sooner or later due to the nature of mechanical design. What if there were a solution to that? A product that by design does not fail, can be exposed to vandalism, is resistant to any kind of fluids and can still operate? A product that reduces your maintenance costs significantly or even better, would allow you and your team to work on more important things than replacing a switch?

CAPTRON’s state of the art and highly customizable SENSORswitches are based on:

  • Capacitive touch High ease of use, no mechanical pressure required
  • TSI PRM & ADA compliant Accessibilty with braille and raised chevrons
  • Indestructible More than 100 million operation cycles
  • Fully IP69K rated 100 % water & oil-proof

It can be operated by hand or any other part of your body, it even works with protection gear. The level of customization such as power supply, symbol, color, connection type etc. is very versatile, which makes the replacement of existing mechanical push buttons almost plug’n’play and it doesn’t cost much.

CASE STUDY A

Project description IMG_0566
Affected Train Model X’Trapolis
Reason of Failure Vandalism & failing of LED’s require exchange. In addition to that, the customer wanted to increase compliance with Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
Scope of Work Providing a sensor switch including aluminum plate in order to meet existing design
Application Area Passenger Entrance Doors
Existing Switch Model Mechanical Push Buttons
Extent 165 Trains (5,904 Buttons)
Exchange Period 2 years
Prices & Data are based per piece
COMPETITION CAPTRON
Purchasing Price 120 $ 149 $
Man-hours to Install 5 minutes 5 minutes
Installation Cost 11 $ 11 $
Initial Product Costs 131 $  160 $ 
Prospected Lifetime
Lifetime in Years 2 years 10 years
Lifetime in Cycles 194,400 cycles 972,000 cycles
Estimated activations per day 270 cycles 270 cycles
Replacement Costs due to vandalism & failure
Material Costs 120 $ 149 $
Man-hours to Install 10 minutes 10 minutes
Installation Cost 22 $ 22 $
Other Costs (wires, screws etc.) 5 $ 5 $
Replacement costs 147 $ 176 $
Lifetime Costs
Item Costs per Cycle 0,0037 $ 0,0002 $
Overall Product-Lifetime Costs 718 $ 160 $

Currency US$
Expected Product Lifetime 10 years
Man-hour per Engineer 130 US$

CASE STUDY B 

Project description
Affected Train Model Desiro Class 350
Reason of Failure Providing a switch and metal housing to be mounted onto the door frame
Scope of Work Vandalism & Mechanical wear out
Application Area Transition Doors in between compartments, more than 50% failure rate
Existing Switch Model Mechanical Push Buttons
Extent 160 Trains (1600 Buttons)
Exchange Period 12 Month (Replacement ongoing)
Prices & Data are based per piece
COMPETITION CAPTRON
Purchasing Price 75 $ 92 $
Man-hours to Install 5 minutes 5 minutes
Installation Cost 9 $ 9 $
Initial Product Costs 84 $  101 $ 
Prospected Lifetime
Lifetime in Years 1 year 10 years
Lifetime in Cycles 36,000 cycles 360,000 cycles
Estimated activations per day 100 cycles 100 cycles
Replacement Costs due to vandalism & failure
Material Costs 75 $ 92 $
Man-hours to Install 5 minutes 5 minutes
Installation Cost 9 $ 9 $
Other Costs (wires, screws etc.) 0 $ 0 $
Replacement costs 84 $ 101 $
Lifetime Costs
Item Costs per Cycle 0,0234 $ 0,0003 $
Overall Product-Lifetime Costs 843 $ 101 $

Currency US$
Expected Product Lifetime 10 years
Man-hour per Engineer 112 US$

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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