New Grants to Fund Research to Reduce Track Caused Train Accidents
Thursday, June 23, 2005 (Washington, DC) The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today announced the award of two rail safety research grants to universities in Alabama and Illinois intended to improve safety in the railroad industry.
Specifically, Tuskegee University received $96,192 to study the effect of fatigue on different types of rail steel and to identify how rail fractures develop and spread. The University of Illinois at Chicago received $166,610 to create software that can study derailments, wheel/rail contact in three dimensions, and rail car dynamics under higher speeds of operation.
“Early detection is critical to the prevention of track-caused train accidents,” said FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman. “Increased track safety means improved public safety.”
These research grants support the FRA’s National Rail Safety Action Plan that targets the most frequent, highest risk causes of accidents. Track-caused accidents are the second leading cause of all train accidents. While the rail industry experienced a reduction in the overall number of track-caused accidents in recent years, heavier freight car loads and the continued growth of rail traffic increases track stress and fatigue.
FRA also is sponsoring research on technologies that alert train crews to broken rails before they approach them, and on the composition and construction design of railroad crossties that keep the rail in place and properly aligned.
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