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Technical Reports

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Users' Manual for Asymmetric Wheel/Rail Contact Characterization Program

Wheel/rail geometric constraint relationships, such as the effective conicity and gravitational stiffness, strongly influence the lateral dynamics of railway vehicles. The principal curvatures of wheel and rail profiles are important parameters in the determination of creep coefficients used in...

TLV Status Report

The worldwide status of Tracked Levitated Vehicle (TLV) technology and an assessment of its development, sponsored by the Advanced Technology Program within the Office of Research and Development in FRA, is presented here. This report along with a TLV Technology Workshop sponsored by the Office of...

Refurbishment of Railroad Crossties: a Technical and Economic Analysis

An analysis of the principal modes of failure for wooden railroad crossties was conducted and an evaluation of the technical and economic feasibility of refurbishing these ties was conducted. Among the principal modes of structural deterioration, only spike-killed tie repair was identified as...

Railroad Research Bulletin - Autumn 1977 Volume 4, Number 2

This publication contains 1,269 abstracts of journal articles and research reports and descriptions of computer programs and magnetic data tapes. It also has 581 summaries of ongoing research activities in the railroad field. The material, selected from current railroad literature and other...

Railroad Research Bulletin - Spring 1977 Volume 4, Number 1

This publication contains 1,474 abstracts of journal articles and research reports and descriptions of computer programs and magnetic data tapes. It also has 515 summaries of ongoing research activities in the railroad field. The material, selected from current railroad literature and other...

Rail Inspection Systems Analysis and Technology Survey

This study was undertaken to identify existing rail inspection system capabilities and methods which might be used to improve these capabilities. Task I was a study to quantify existing inspection parameters and Task II was a cost effectiveness study to utilize the results of Task I. in defining...

Lateral Resistance of Railroad Track

Within the "broader scope of research activities dealing with lateral track resistance sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration, the Sahot test carried out by Chessie on its main line track furnishes specific data on the variability of lateral track resistance. Track panels were...