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

Subscribe to RSS

Determinations of Dynamic Fracture Toughness Properties of Rail Steels

Motivated by the occurrence of a long-running rail web fracture in service, dynamic fracture mechanics research was undertaken to (1) quantify the crack driving force due to the residual stresses induced by roller straightening operations, (2) determine dynamic fracture toughness values for rail...

Classification of Hazardous Materials in Rail Transportation

The regulations pertaining to the classification of hazardous materials in rail transportation were examined for their robustness in identifying hazards, the classification of hazardous materials, and the utility of these classifications to those who must deal with rail accidents involving...

Monitoring Devices for Railroad Emergency Response Team

This report examines new devices and technologies either commercially available or being developed which might have application to the railroad hazardous material spill response problem. Procedure and monitoring device information from Southern Railway, U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Protection...

Energy Management Guildelines for Rail Transit Systems: Volume II

The cost of electricity is a significant portion of the operating costs of rail transit systems. The impact of increasing energy costs is felt by those systems presently in operation and will be felt by those in the planning or construction phases. Because of the number of nuclear power plants...

Energy Management Guidelines for Rail Transit Systems: Volume I

The cost of electricity is a significant portion of the operating costs of rail transit systems. The impact of increasing energy costs is felt by those systems presently in operation and will be felt by those in the planning or construction phases. Because of the number of nuclear power plants...

Energy Management Guidelines for Rail Transit Systems: Executive Summary

The cost of electricity is a significant portion of the operating costs of rail transit systems. The impact of increasing energy costs is felt by those systems presently in operation and will be felt by those in the planning or construction phases. Because of the number of nuclear power plants...

STARS AC Propulsion Project

This report describes the design, manufacture and testing of a propulsion system for passenger rail application utilizing a variable-voltage, variable-frequency (VWF) inverter and a squirrel cage induction motor, along with associated microprocessor control circuitry. Novel developments in this...