USA Banner

Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

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.

U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Technical Reports

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),...

Review of Suicide Intervention Training Programs

Nearly one-third of all rail-related fatalities in the U.S. result from an intentional act of suicide. Rail carrier-based strategies to prevent these incidents are not well understood, and empirical evidence of the effectiveness of known strategies is currently very limited. One such strategy is...

Accelerating Implementation of ECP Emulator Technology

One of the major barriers to implementation of Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP) brake technology is a freight car’s interchange requirement, i.e., it should run in trains made of interchange qualified car. An overlay ECP or an ECP emulator can address this barrier. This project advanced an...