Optimal Selection of Shunting Locomotives

The European Union's Transport Policy promotes environmentally and economically acceptable transportation modes, primarily rail and water transport. A significant problem in the railway industry is the inability to deliver goods door to door. This problem can be resolved with the use of industrial tracks. Industrial tracks directly enter company grounds, and thus actually enable door to door delivery and the realization of an efficient transport chain. With the use of industrial tracks shunting appears in the technological process. Shunting has a significant place in the technology of rail transport because it is a technologically demanding action and therefore a significant cost item. Shunting is done with the aim of delivery and dispatch of wagons from the grounds to railway line. It can be done so an entire train is assembled on the industrial track and released onto the main line, or by collecting individual freight cars at various sidings and assembling the train at a railway station. As a rule, main line locomotives cannot be used for shunting, and a dedicated shunting locomotive must be used in both cases. To ensure the success of the transport chain, the optimal selection of a shunting locomotive is essential. Shunting locomotives are chosen based on technical, economic and technological calculations. The most important technical element is the minimum power requirement, the economic element is the minimal shunting cost, while the technical one is that the locomotive fulfils all technical requirements. These elements are closely interrelated, and therefore it is necessary to establish links between the elements and the feasibility of the process. The paper will identify the technical, economic and technological parameters that are required for the selection of shunting locomotives and will demonstrated a concrete example of selecting a shunting locomotive for an industrial track.