Next Generation Equipment Committee

PRIIA Section 305 Diesel Multiple Unit Vehicle

Technical Specification Report

NGEC Executive Board Review Panel

Author: Larry E. Salci, Principal, SalciConsult

Report Date: August 19, 2012

Review Panel Meeting Date: August 23, 2012

Executive Board Approval Date: September 4, 2012

Copyright Statement

This work has been specifically requested by and performed for the PRIIA NGEC Executive Board Review Panel. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature, by other parties, without their written permission.

CONTENTS

1INTRODUCTION3

2CONSULTANT PROFESSIONAL RAILCAR EXPERIENCE4

3SCOPE OF REPORT5

4PRIIA DESIGN OBJECTIVES andSPECIFICAITON SUMMARY7

4.1 Design Objectives7

4.2 Specification Summary8

5SPECIFICATION DEVELOPMENT AND APPROVAL PROCESS11

5.1Inclusive Industry Representation11

5.2Technical Subcommittee and Subgroups11

5.3DMU Technical Specification Approval by a Consensus Vote12

6SPECIFICATION REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY TABLES13

6.1 Operational/Performance Requirements14

6.2 Interoperability Requirements19

6.3 Safety Requirements22

6.4 Reliability and Maintainability Requirements26

6.5 Passenger and Amenity Requirements30

6.6 Communications and Electrical Controls34

6.7 Vehicle Standardization37

6.8 Environmental Initiatives40

6.9 Propulsion System Architecture Requirements41

6.10 Regulatory and Industry Standards48

6.11 Testing and Acceptance Requirements50

6.12 Configuration Management53

1INTRODUCTION

In accordance with the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA), Section 305, passed in 2008, Amtrak shall establish a Next Generation Corridor Equipment Pool Committee, comprised of representatives of Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration, host freight railroad companies, passenger railroad equipment manufacturers, interested States, and, as appropriate, other passenger railroad operators. The purpose of the NGEC Committee shall be to develop and design technical specifications for one or more types of train equipment for approval to be used for the procurement of standardized next-generation corridor equipmentqualified for up to 125 mph revenue service in North America.

In accordance with PRIIA Section 305 requirements, Amtrak did establish such a Committee and the Committee organized itself into an Executive Board with standing sub committees, including a Technical Subcommittee comprised of nearly 200 members of the passenger rail industry including designers and manufacturers of passenger railcars, locomotives, and suppliers of major systems, equipment, and materials, and passenger rail industry consultants.

In accordance with the Section 305 requirements, the NGEC Executive Board developed and approved a Requirements Document to be used as guidanceby the Technical Subcommittee in the development of a Diesel Multiple Unit Passenger Railcar Technical Specification for the NGEC Executive Board’s approval. The Requirements Document provides requirements criteria to be met for technical, operational performance, standardization, reliability, maintenance, regulations, industry standards, configuration control and thespecification development process.

The Technical Subcommittee of the PRIIA Section 305 Next Generation EquipmentCommittee (NGEC) subsequently developed a technical specification for a Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) passenger railcar,for procurement of DMUs, as required by the NGEC Executive Board. This Technical Specification was completed and subsequently approved by the Technical Subcommittee at its meeting in Boston on June 14, 2012. Following that meeting, the Technical Subcommittee forwarded the DMU passengerrailcar Technical Specification to the Executive Board for approval.

The NGEC Executive Board established a Technical Specification Review Panel to provideassurance that the DMU Technical Specification does meet the NGEC Executive Board’s Requirements Document. The Review Panel consists of transportation leaders from several states and the Federal Railroad Administration. To assist and support the Review Panel, Larry Salci was retained as an independent passenger railcar industry consultant to assist the Review Panel in its responsibilities and provide a concise objective and independent review of the DMU Technical specification. The independent review includes the development of a written report for review and approval by the Review Panel, prior to its recommendation for approval of the DMU Technical Specification to the NGEC Executive Board.

Members of the DMU Technical Specification Review Panel are:

Bill Bronte, Chairman, California Department of Transportation

Ron Adams, Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Eric Curtit, Missouri Department of Transportation

Tammy Nicholson, Iowa Department of Transportation

John Tunna, Federal Railroad Administration

2CONSULTANT PROFESSIONAL PASSENGER RAIL CAR EXPERIENCE

Mr. Salci has 40 years’ experience in the transportation industry, 32 yearsas the CEO of several passenger rail car manufacturers and two large urban passenger rail system operators. He has 20 years’ experience as the CEO of four passenger rail car manufacturers, Budd Transit, Bombardier Corporation, Morrison/Knudsen and its successor company Amerail, and Colorado Railcar Manufacturing (as independent consultant). Mr. Salci also has 12 years transit system CEO experience, six years each in Detroit and St. Louis,responsible for push-pull commuter rail and light rail transit system operations and maintenance. He has the unique experience and perspective of being both a private sector CEO responsible for the design and manufacture of over 3,000 passenger rail cars and the CEO of large public transit agencies responsible for federal grant funding, procurement, operations, and maintenance of passenger railcars. His experience includes, rapid transit, light rail, and commuter rail/intercity vehicles manufactured from all major car body materials, e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, corten and LAHT and major systems/equipment and components including propulsion technologies, both DC and AC motors and state of the art inverters and control equipment.

For suburban commuter, intercity and corridor service, he has been responsible for the design and manufacture of all car types, single level coaches, bi-level coaches, EMUs, and DMUs for commuter agencies, state Dots, and Amtrak service. Within his CEO experience portfolio, Mr. Salci has been responsible for the design and manufacture of earlier generation intercity/corridor bi-level cars such as the Amtrak Superliner II and Caltrans California Car. He has similar experience with single level intercity/corridor cars including the Amfleet II and Horizon cars. He was also responsible for the design of the Amtrak Viewliner Carshell and the manufacture of the first 50 Viewliner sleeper cars for Amtrak.

His DMU experience includes the design and manufacture of the The Budd Company’s SPV 2000 for Connecticut DOT/FRA, and Colorado Railcar’s bi-level DMU for the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority and Alaska Railroad, and single level DMUs manufactured for Tri-Met (Portland).

Mr. Salci has recently served as the independent consultant for the NGEC Executive Board’s Review Panel for PRIIA Sec. 305 technical specifications for a bi-level stainless steel passenger railcar, a single-level stainless steel passenger railcar, a single level trainset, and a diesel-electric locomotive, all designed for up to 125 mph revenue service.

Since 2008, Mr. Salci has been an independent consultant in the transportation industry serving clients responsible for the procurement of passenger railcars (including CEM design coaches-SCRRA), the design and manufacture of passenger railcars, operation and maintenance of passenger railcars, and large financial institutions involved in the capital financing of passenger railcars and locomotives(

3SCOPE of REPORT

PRIIA Section 305 requires the establishment of the Next Generation Equipment Pool Committee (“Committee”). The purpose of the Committee is to …”design, develop specifications for, and procure standardized next-generation corridor equipment.” Further, the Committee may “determine the number of different types of equipment required, taking into account variation in operational needs and corridor infrastructure”.

The Executive Board established a Technical Review Subcommittee to:

  1. Review and document the Technical Specification to ensure design objectives, design review, and Proof-of-Design meet all design requirements and document the methodology used to verify compliance with all PRIIA Section 305 mandates;
  2. Review and summarize the Diesel-Multiple Unit Technical Specification in a manner that provides the Committee the information necessary to determine whether the Technical Specification complies with the Requirements Document for all technical, operational/performance, reliability, maintainability, safety, and regulations and standards developed by the Technical Subcommittee with the goal of approval by the Executive Board; and
  3. Review and document the methodology, process, and inclusive development of the Diesel-Multiple Unit Technical Specification by industry stakeholders, including the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak, states, and industry OEM manufacturers, systems and equipment suppliers, and industry consultants.

The goal of this Review Panel Report is to address the three items referenced above. Items 1, Design Objectives and Requirements and 3, Specification Development Process, will be summarized in narrative format in the text of this Report in Sections 4 and 5 respectively. Item 2 above, Summary of Technical Specification Requirements, will be presented in table format (Section 6 of this Report). The table format is used to summarize the Requirements Document’s major technical design, operational performance, safety, reliability, and maintainability criteria and provide a comparative analysis to ensure they are both contained in the technical specification and the specification provides a clear methodology to verify compliance by the OEM designer/ manufacturer.

This Report will assist the Review Panel and Executive Board decision process for consideration of the adequacy of the Technical Specification in addressing the PRIIA/NGEC operational and performance criteria need to design, procure, and manufacture a fleet of PRIIA Diesel-Multiple Unit passenger railcars.

Mr. Salci’s review of the Technical Specification and its development and approval process included, in addition to the specification, an examination of the following documents and PRIIA 305 NGEC Executive Board and Subcommittee meeting minutes:

  • Review of all Pool Committee By-laws and meeting minutes, minutes of all Executive Board, Technical Subcommittee and Team Subgroup meetings (Interior, Mechanical, Electrical, Structural, Vehicle/Track Interface, and locomotive)
  • Review Technical Subcommittee meeting minutes and reports from bi-weekly Team Subgroup meetings
  • Detailed review of the PRIIA Standardized Diesel-Multiple Units Technical Specification, Revisions 1 and 2.
  • Review of the NGEC Executive Board Requirements Document, Diesel- Multiple Units, Rev. 2.0
  • Review of the States Equipment Survey needs
  • Review of the Special Report, ‘Cant Deficiency, Curving Speeds and Tilt, Brian Marquis, M.E., Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
  • Review of the Special Report, “Summary of Carbody-Truck Interface Standardization Efforts”, prepared by Structural and VTI Team Subgroups
  • Review of Special Report, “ Considerations of Alternate Materials for Passenger Rail Carbody Construction”, Jeff Gordon, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
  • Review of NGEC Executive Board Pilot Program-Standardization, Independent Review of NGEC Standardization Process, Larry E. Salci, SalciConsult
  • Review of PRIIA Procedure 305-100, Document Management Process, Initial Release
  • Review of Amtrak Fleet Strategy, Version 3.1, March 2012
  • Review of 49CFR, Transportation, Part 238 applicable sections to Specification references, and relevant APTA and AAR industry standards, best practices, and cross references
  • Review of 49 CFR Parts 27, 37, and 38, Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and NGEC Executive Board policy on ADA requirements that exceed 49 CFR Part 38 minimum requirements

It is Mr. Salci’s professional opinion that the NGEC Executive Board’s Requirements Document mandates, derived from PRIIA Section 305, fora Diesel Multiple Unit Passenger Rail Car Technical Specification were met. This will ensure the adequacy of the Technical Specification in addressing the operational, performance, reliability, maintainability, safety, and regulatory requirements. It will allow the NGEC to procure the design, manufacture, test, delivery, and warranty of a fleet of standardized Diesel Multiple Unit Passenger Rail Cars of intercity/corridor vehicles for use in short- to- medium distance corridor service. It is also Mr. Salci’s professional opinion that the PRIIA Section 305/NGEC mandated inclusive process, to develop and approve the technical specification, was also met. This Review Panel Report documents the rationale for these opinions and is presented for Review Panel approval.

4PRIIA DESIGN OBJECTIVES AND SPECIFICATION SUMMARY

4.1 Design Objectives

The Technical Subcommittee recognized in early 2010 that to serve the entire North American intercity and corridor market (s) for up to 125 mph service, a bi-level car, single-level standalone car, a single-level trainset designs would be required. Also, a new 125 mph diesel-electric locomotive specification was also required. These multiple design requirements are due to existing operating limitations due to physical infrastructure dimensional issues of tunnel and bridge clearance issues, combined with the existence of high level passenger loading platforms on many corridor routes shared by both local commuter rail agencies and Amtrak’s intercity and state corridor services. Also, some states, specifically Oregon, Wisconsin, and Washington State were already in advanced stages of planning and procurement for single-level trainsets to meet their respective corridor requirements. California was in the advanced stages of developing a technical specification of the third generation bi-level car. Now California, along with Illinois, Michigan and Missouri are now in the advance phases of actually procuring the first PRIIA bi-level cars by the end of 2012 and shortly will be procuring new PRIIA diesel-electric locomotives.

Additionally, the Executive Board determined that a technical specification for Diesel-Multiple Unit (DMU) cars would also be required. The purpose of the DMU technical specification is to define the performance and technical requirements for a fleet of new Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) passenger railcars for use in medium-to-long distance intercity corridor service in North America. All technical characteristics and performance parameters for these DMUs are contained in the specification, as well as the design review, inspection, testing, and documentation requirements for manufacturing and maintaining these cars. The goal of PRIIA is to create a DMU intercity corridor car specification that may be used by any state or agency to procure DMUs for intercity service. The DMUs are intended to be an intercity car fleet for use in short-to-medium corridor service.

The four major design objectives defined in the DMU specification are:

  1. Reliability- the reliability objectives shall be based on a single car operation at an average speed of 80 mph (129 km/h) and a utilization of 215,000 miles/yr. (344,000 Km/yr.) The car shall achieve a MDBTD of at least 150,000 miles (241,350 km).
  2. Maintainability –The car shall be designed and built so as to minimize maintenance and repair time and overall costs over the car life. The specification defines MTTR values for all major system components
  3. Metrication – The designs, components and fasteners used on the new cars shall be of inch-standard units of measure whenever possible. For all drawings, manuals, specifications and inspection documents, all dimensions shall be shown in inch-standard units of inches and decimals, with metric equivalent shown in parenthesis.
  4. Safety – Safety shall be of primary importance in the design of the car. The car shall present a safe, hazard free environment to passengers, crew members and the general public.

4.2Specification Summary

A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple cars (or carriages) powered by one or more on-board diesel engine. Earlier DMUs designed and built by The Budd Company were referred to as Rail Diesel Cars or RDCs. Historically, the diesel engine may be located above the frame in an engine bay or under the floor. Driving controls can be at both ends, on one end, or none. By example, the Budd RDC was a single level passenger car with two diesel engines and two sets of controls.

As brief background information, in the United States only FRA compliant DMU systems are permitted on freight rail corridors. This is due to the Federal Railway Administration setting higher coupling strength requirements than European regulators, effectively prohibiting the use of lighter weight European-style inter-city rail DMUs on U.S. mainline railways. However, there are U.S. operations using non FRA compliant DMU type vehicles. The New Jersey Transit River Line and the NCTD Sprinter Line from Oceanside, CA to San Diego use non-compliant DMUs, which are classified as Light Rail due to European DMU designs, but do not operate with electrical power or with light rail frequency. Both of these lines use European type DMUs but the cars may not operate with freight rail service that shares the same track. More recently, in Denton County, Texas the DCTA uses Stadler GTW cars to operate its a-train service. DCTA has secured from the FRA the first –ever alternative vehicle technology waiver to use these cars on freight corridors. This specification objective is only for FRA compliant DMUs.

Concept

  • The DMUs are intended to be an intercity car fleet for use in short-to-medium distance corridor service. DMU cars scale well as it allows extra passenger capacity to be added at the same time as motive power. It permits passenger capacity to be matched to demand, and for trains to be split and joined en route.
  • These DMUs shall be designed and built for use anywhere in the United States and Canada, consistent with PRIIA Drawing 305-800.
  • All specifications shall reflect operational and environmental conditions that may be encountered anywhere the cars may operate, without requiring redesign or modification.
  • The Specification defines three different DMU vehicles, two with cabs (“A” and “B” cars) and a cab-less (“C”) car that can be inserted between the “A” and “B” cars. The “C” car can be powered or unpowered.
  • The cars shall be designed for a minimum of 40 year design life for operation, including trucks and running gear.
  • Safety, reliability and maintainability are primary design objectives
  • A significant goal of all PRIIA Specifications is standardization.
  • Design reviews and mockups will be employed to assess all proposed designs for compliance with specification requirements.

Car Types and Arrangements