Reliability of Road Transport Means as a Factor Affecting the Risk of Failure – The Transport Problem Case Study

The article’s objective was to develop a method for analyzing the operational reliability of means of transport, emphasizing destructive factors affecting the disruptions in the continuity of supply. The introduction contains a diagram of the occurrence of adverse events in the transport system. The concept of reliability analysis of rolling stock based on two conditions (its fitness and unfitness) was presented. We describe the proposed method in three stages. The first one is related to activities aimed at extending the fitness condition of the rolling stock. As part of this stage, destructive factors were classified, depending on the rolling stock life cycle phase, with degradation parameters identified and characterized. The second stage concerns diagnostic activities. An approach to assessing damage based on the diagnostic indicator, which resulted in the so-called diagnostic matrix’s suggestion, was developed. The last stage of the presented method includes repair activities, based on which the concept of applying risk measures, including the risk measure of rolling stock unavailability, was introduced. The results acquired based on the presented method are designed to provide data enriching the decision-making process in transport activities, aimed at reducing the risk of failure to perform the transport task. The method of analyzing the reliability of means of transport presented in our work forms part of the author’s work on developing a comprehensive analysis of the operational reliability of transport systems.