An official website of the United States government
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
From 1996 to 2016, Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) analyzed historical probability of detection (POD) data for the fusion welded tank car butt welds (BW) and fillet welds (FW) inspection using Code of Federal Regulation (CFR)-approved nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods. The...
This appendices summarizes the number of observations, misses, hits, and false calls for each interval for fillet welds (FW) for all operators and for each nondestructive evaluation (NDE) method applied in Appendix A. Appendix B summarizes the median frequency of hits and misses for the...
Rail spikes connect railroad rails to the supporting crossties and secure tie plates and crossties together. Recent field inspections and observations have revealed broken spike failures (cut spikes and drive/screw spikes) when used with elastic fastener tie plates in mountainous, high-degree...
This report describes the work performed during Phase IV compliance testing of light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures used as locomotive headlights and auxiliary lights. The purpose was to study the performance of the lamps under severe cold weather conditions. Researchers sought to determine...
This report describes the compliance testing of light-emitting diode fixtures used as locomotive headlights and auxiliary lights. The purpose of Phase III testing was to study the ability of observers to identify inconspicuous visual targets along the track, the pattern formed by the locomotive...
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sponsored a project to demonstrate the effectiveness of an Acoustical Warning Device (AWD) to be used for generating a secondary Emergency Warning Signal (EWS). The focus of this Phase 2 work is to warn trespassers of an approaching train through the...
The goal of this program is to develop an informational video for firefighters. The video covers pertinent and valuable information firefighters need to respond to a call involving the railroad quickly, efficiently, and safely.
In support of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Equipment Safety Research Program, the Volpe Center has been conducting research to improve occupant protection during accidents for rail car passengers. This report describes a project conducted to develop and test a prototype design for a...
In 2006, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funded the development of the Passenger Rail Vehicle Emergency Evacuation Simulator, known as the “rollover rig.” This device was constructed to provide the railroad passenger community with the training tools to respond effectively during...
Currently, there is no standard for regulating the toxic gas emission in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 130 or Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 238.103. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Fire Test Procedure (FTP) Annex 1: Part 2 toxicity standard with the 25...