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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Onboard Broken Rail Detection Research and Development

Document Series:
Technical Reports
Author:
  • Federal Railroad Administration
Report Number
DOT/FRA/ORD-22/35
Office
RDI-23
Subject:
Positive Train Control
Keywords:
Alternative broken rail and rollout detection, ABRRD, full-moving block, FMB, Head-of-Train-Alternative Broken Rail and Rollout Detection, HOT-ABRRD, Onboard Broken Rail Detection, OBRD, Positive Train Control, PTC
Document
OBRD Research and Development.pdf (8.18 MB)

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sponsored a project, performed by Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), to research the feasibility of an Onboard Broken Rail Detection (OBRD) concept. A parallel long term track impedance characterization effort was undertaken with the objective of understanding and modelling the track as an electrical transmission line under varying environmental conditions. Between October 2019 and November 2021, TTCI carried out a series of laboratory and field experiments of the concept in two configurations over 6,000-feet and 12,000-feet sections of track.


Last updated: Thursday, September 15, 2022