Research Results
Short Line Safety Institute: The Most Robust Model for Assessing Safety Culture in the U.S. Railroad Industry
Since 2015, the Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI) has been conducting voluntary, non-punitive, confidential assessments of the safety culture at participating short line and regional railroads (i.e., Class II and Class III railroads). The SLSI defines safety culture as the shared values,...Timber Crosstie Spike Fastener Failure Investigation
University of Illinois’ (UIUC) researchers completed an investigation of timber crosstie spike fastener failures on North American railroads between April and October 2018. This investigation, funded by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), included a review of derailment reports and...Determining Bond-Slip Characteristics of Prestressing Tendons with Varying Geometries in Two Concrete Mixtures
Untensioned pullout tests were conducted to obtain the bond-slip characteristics of two groups of prestressing tendons used in concrete railroad tie production. The purpose of this testing was to provide empirical data to support numerical methods of predicting splitting and bursting failures in...Fiber Optic Train Tracking - Phase 1
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sponsored a test conducted by Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), in September 2017, to evaluate the capability of Fiber-Optic Acoustic Detection (FOAD) to track trains and identify track occupied in multiple track territories. Testing results...Impact of Water on Cracked Concrete Crosstie Service Life
To investigate the impact of moisture on crack growth and other tie damage, UIUC researchers subjected pretensioned concrete crossties and small-scale beams to repeated loading conditions with water added to the system. Laboratory results revealed that cracked pretensioned concrete crossties...Maintenance-of-Way (MOW) Employee Safety System - Phase 1
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sponsored Transportation Technology Center, Inc. to develop a concept of operations (CONOPS) for a system capable of resolving the location of maintenance-of-way (MOW) workers and establishing working limits, and the initial applications that could utilize...Settlement of Fine-Contaminated Ballast
In 2017, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) constructed and performed ongoing initial tests on a “Rainy Section” of track in the Facility of Accelerated Service Testing (FAST) to quantify the drainage, accelerated settlement, and dynamic...Rail Integrity and Initial Performance Testing at the Mega Site
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) with the Association of American Railroads (AAR) co-sponsored rail integrity and performance testing as part of the joint Heavy-Axle-Load (HAL) Revenue Service Program. Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) investigated the performance of improved...Low Ground Clearance Vehicle Detection and Warning
The Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Office of Research, Development and Technology (RD&T) sponsored a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project from July 31, 2014, to July 29, 2016. This took place at the Advanced Technology and Research Corporation (ATR) facility in...