Technical Reports
Monitoring Engineer Fatigue (MEFA)
Aurora Flight Sciences, under contract to the Federal Railroad Administration, studied the feasibility of autonomously monitoring and combating train engineer fatigue. This program is called Monitoring Engineer Fatigue (MEFA). Research and testing at the FRA’s Cab Technology Integration...Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to Produce Accurate Grade Crossing Profile Data
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe), under the direction of DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Office of Research, Development and Technology, studied the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to produce accurate 3-...
Heat Release Rate Requirements for Railcar Interior Finish
The focus of this research was to establish heat release rate (HRR) based performance requirements for intercity and commuter passenger railcar interior finish materials. A database of HRR results from passenger railcar components was compiled for developing new HRR requirements. Initiating fire...Positive Train Control (PTC) Monitoring and Analysis of the Integrated Network (MAIN) - Phase I
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sponsored Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) to research current railroad efforts for monitoring, troubleshooting, and analyzing their Positive Train Control (PTC) systems. TTCI reviewed the PTC monitoring, troubleshooting, and analysis...
Analysis of Non-Track-Circuit Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Train Detection Technologies
This research investigated the suitability of non-track-circuit-based technologies as a cost-effective means to deploy active warning devices at passive grade crossings. While several promising technologies were identified, some of the findings were unexpected. Mainly, there existed...