Railway applications - Rolling stock equipment - Shock and vibration tests

IEC 61373:2026 specifies the requirements for testing items of equipment intended for use on railway vehicles which are subsequently subjected to vibrations and shock owing to the nature of railway operational environment. To gain assurance that the quality of the equipment is acceptable, it is exposed to tests of reasonable duration that simulate the service conditions seen throughout its expected life.

Simulated long-life testing can be achieved in a number of ways each having their associated advantages and disadvantages, the following being the most common:

a) amplification: where the amplitudes are increased and the time base decreased;

b) time compression: where the amplitude history is retained and the time base is decreased (increase of the frequency);

c) decimation: where time slices of the historical data are removed when the amplitudes are below a specified threshold value.

The amplification method as stated in item a) above, is used in this document and together with the publications referred to in Clause 2; it defines the default test procedure to be followed when vibration testing items for use on railway vehicles.

Whilst this document is primarily concerned wit