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Technical Reports

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Improving Collision Post Crashworthiness of Legacy Locomotives

Modern locomotives are built to crashworthiness standards defined in Subpart D of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 229 as well as the Association of American Railroads’(AAR) S-580 standards. Older locomotives, specifically the narrow-nose locomotives, were not designed to these...

Acoustical Warning Devices as Emergency Warning Systems, Phase 1

This program demonstrated the effectiveness of Acoustical Warning Devices (AWD) as secondary Emergency Warning Signals (EWS). The focus is to warn trespassers of an approaching train, through the development of an emergency warning signals that produce a sense of urgency, are noticeable to...

Why Do Passenger Trains Run through Switches in the Rail Yard?

This study examined why crews working in yard operations run through switches in the wrong direction or run through damaged switches. Running through a switch in the wrong direction can damage the switch. Operating through a damaged switch can derail the train. The authors worked with a railroad to...

Conventional and Crash Energy Management Locomotive Coupling Tests

Crash energy management (CEM) components which can be integrated into the end structure of a locomotive were developed: a push-back coupler (PBC) and a deformable anti-climber (DAC). These components are designed to inhibit override in the event of a collision. The results of vehicle-to-vehicle...

Crashworthy Components Retrofit for F40 Locomotive

The Federal Railroad Administration and the Volpe Center continue to evaluate new technologies for increasing the safety of passengers and operators in rail equipment. In recognition of the importance of override prevention in train-to-train collisions in which one of the vehicles is a locomotive,...

Detection of Concrete Tie Rail Seat Deterioration

Rail seat deterioration (RSD) is a loss of concrete in the rail seat area of concrete ties that may compromise safety by increasing track gage, reducing fastener toe load, and allowing increased rail displacement. As part of a research project funded by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA),...