[ CASE STUDY ]
Mechanical Design Standardization & Custom Truck Configuration
HiRail Leasing, based in Ontario, Canada, specializes in converting standard truck chassis, from Ford F350s to Freightliner 10-wheelers, into rail-ready maintenance vehicles for Canadian National (CN). ONMOTIO stepped in to elevate their design workflows, ensuring compliance with PDM best practices, regulatory standards, and industry expectations, while playing a hands-on role in mechanical integration, weight & balance analysis, and manufacturing support.
Industry
Railway Design
Year
2018
Areas of Expertise
Railway Design•Heavy Equipment•Mechanical Integration•PDM
[ THE PRODUCT ]
HiRail Leasing converts standard truck chassis, from a Ford F350 up to a Freightliner ten-wheeler, into maintenance vehicles that run on both road and rail for Canadian National.
The product is not a vehicle. It is a configuration system that has to produce a compliant vehicle from any chassis in the catalogue.
[ HOW IT WORKS ]
Every conversion starts from a different truck and has to end at the same standard. Without a configuration system that is a bespoke engineering job each time, which is exactly the trap HiRail was in.
01 . Front rail gear
Behind the cab, straight down
Lowered second. It lifts the front tires clear of the rail.
02 . Rear rail gear
Behind the last axle
Lowered first. The rear tires stay on the rail and drive.
03 . Loader
At the rear, folded over the deck
Stowed while the truck travels.
04 . Outriggers
Folded up beside the loader
They take the load when the loader works.
[ INSIDE ]
The engineering value here is not in any single vehicle. It is in the drawings, the part numbering and the process that let a small team produce the twentieth conversion as reliably as the first.
Swipe along the sheet, cab to loader
System
Vehicle
[ WHAT ONMOTIO DID ]
HiRail were building good vehicles and re-solving the same problems every time. Each conversion carried its own drawings, its own decisions and its own risk of falling short of the CN documentation standard.
We put a PDM system underneath the work, standardised the configuration drawings, drove the hydraulic and electrical integration, and ran weight and balance across the chassis platforms so rail safety could be demonstrated rather than argued.
2018
One configuration drawing set for every truck: six sheets, from the isometric view to the side, end and plan views and the overall dimensions.
2018
A document system with one numbering scheme for every part and drawing, and a release workflow: work in progress, review, ready, released or rejected.
2018
Each truck assembled as a 3D mock-up from the chassis, deck, loader, outrigger and rail gear models. Here, the tridem log loader on rail.
2018
Every hydraulic line routed in the 3D mock-up: tank, cooler, filter, a three-lever control valve bank and the lines out to each function.
2018
The wiring diagram from the fuse panel to every device the conversion adds: wig-wag and driving lights, loader controls, proximity switches, PTO and airbag solenoids.
2018
An assembly sequence, an assembly manual and inspection plans, then a day of training so HiRail's own team runs the system. Here, a finished truck.
We started from the chassis, loader, deck and rail gear models and drawings supplied by HiRail and its suppliers, checked one by one before use. From them we fixed one drawing format with its title block and one set of six sheets per truck: isometric view, both sides, front and rear, overall dimensions with the loaded and empty center of gravity, and the plan. Every later truck was drawn on that same set.
We put a PDM system underneath the work, standardised the configuration drawings, drove the hydraulic and electrical integration, and ran weight and balance across the chassis platforms so rail safety could be demonstrated rather than argued.
Three calls that shaped it
Method
A configuration system covering every platform
instead ofEngineering each conversion on its own merits
It front-loads a large amount of work before a single extra vehicle ships, and it constrains what a salesperson can promise. What it buys is a twentieth conversion as good as the first.
Compliance
Weight and balance validated per chassis platform
instead ofValidating each finished vehicle individually
Rail safety is a documentation problem as much as a physical one. Working per platform means the answer exists before the vehicle does.
Handover
Training the team to run the system
instead ofKeeping the knowledge with the consultant
It ends our involvement sooner. It is also the only version where the improvement survives the project.
[ THE WORK ]
[ WHERE IT WENT ]
Compliance with CN documentation standards was achieved, weight and balance calculations were validated for rail safety, and the manufacturing process and team training were delivered so the capability stayed inside the company.
[ THE SAME TEAM ]
This project needed several disciplines that usually sit at several different suppliers. Doing them under one roof is what stops a good concept from arriving at a factory that cannot quote it.
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