Research efforts in the Passenger Rail Equipment program area focus on the development and improvement of rail equipment. The rail vehicle is integral in the protection of train occupants. The structural integrity of rail vehicles is very important....

The CTIL is a national resource for...

FRA makes the CTIL available to all...

Are you aware of the ...

Learn about attention first-hand from two operators who lived through an actual rail misadventure. This video provides different perspectives of a near-fatal incident that occurred because of ...

One domain of HSI that offers considerable potential to assist railroads in understanding and applying knowledge related to human performance is Human Factors Engineering (HFE). 

“Human Factors Engineering...

What is user-centered design?

Rapid prototyping (RP) is a research and development process used quickly builds rough, then more refined, versions of a solution following the “spiral design” process described on the Human Systems Integration page. To build a display, for example,...

Rail Steel and Defect Growth Studies

FRA will continue to support the development of rail steels that are more resistant to defect formation under repeated loading from train traffic. Studies in this area will focus on factors which control...

Track Performance under Heavy Axle Loads

This project has two focus areas. The first provides support for operation of the jointly funded FAST at ...