Keyword: «gradual and sudden failures»

One of the reasons for the failure of pieces of rolling stock and railway transport infrastructure is the natural and climatic conditions of operation. The main feature of the climate of the Far North and the Arctic territories is its sharp continentality, large annual temperature fluctuations, the complexity of tracks laying relief, a significant change in the ri-gidity of the railway track components depending on seasonality. In the coldest places, the air temperature drops to –70 ℃. Difficult natural and climatic conditions of equipment operation in the northern and arctic regions of Siberia lead to a decrease in the main performance figures of equipment. The statistics of failures in service (frames of freight car bogies, cases of automatic couplers in trains and other parts and structures), occurring mainly in winter, definitely indicates the influence of ambient temperature on the tendency of a multiple increase in emergency and catastrophic situations. Therefore, provision of the safe operation life for railway transport facilities in low-temperature con-ditions should be based on determination the actual state of metal, change its mechanical properties depend-ing on temperature, on analysis of the rate defect growth, prediction and early detection of pre-failure condi-tions. This is especially important for sudden failures in wheel sets and large-sized wagon castings of bogie elements. Taking into account the above, the paper presents the kinetics of the damage accumulation processes and failure of railway transport facilities, the dominant mechanisms for reaching their limit states. The eval-uation has been performed for the characteristics of the crack resistance of metals and the survivability of structures with a decrease in temperature and their degradation in the process of operating time. It is planned to use parts made of rolled, welded and cast steels with improved cold resistance properties. Vital tasks have been formulated for rolling stock safe operation in conditions of the North and the Arctic devel-opment, and the expected scientific results have been noted.