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An assessment of the requirements for illumination at a railroad grade crossing reveals two principal needs: the need to illuminate the sides of railroad cars by in-place lighting at the crossing so that they can be recognized by a motorist at a stoppable distance, and the need to provide...
Eight grade crossing island detection technologies designed to eliminate problems associated with loss of shunt were evaluated by engineers at Transportation Technology Center, Inc., a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads, Pueblo, Colorado. Performance of these alternative...
The current study represents one of several efforts by the Federal Railroad Administration to evaluate the effectiveness of auditory warnings designed to promote awareness of approaching trains. A stationary horn (or wayside horn) located at the grade crossing was evaluated to learn whether it...
The purpose of this study was to develop guidelines and recommendations for the design of retroreflective marking systems to enhance the conspicuity of rail cars at night. Three methods were used to generate and evaluate the marking systems for a standard hopper car. First, a group of human...
Collisions at highway-railroad grade crossings have posed a significant safety problem. To reduce the number of these collisions at highway-railroad grade crossings where train visibility is a contributing factor, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is investigating measures to enhance the...
The U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, in support of the Federal Railroad Administration is conducting a research program with the goal of reducing the number of fatalities and injuries at highway-...
Under sponsorship from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) evaluated five technologies for their ability to detect trains and/or highway vehicles approaching and occupying highway rail intersections. TTCI evaluated the performance of these...
This report describes testing of prototype vehicle proximity alert system (VPAS) technologies, and presents and evaluates the results. The object was to determine the feasibility of VPAS for possible use in priority vehicles (i.e., emergency vehicles, school buses, vehicles carrying hazardous...
This workshop was held June 11 and 12, 1998, at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Participants included DOT staff and consultants, state highway and rail representatives, railroads, railroad suppliers,...
Every year in the United States, accidents at highway-railroad grade crossings take place where the motorist hits the side of the train at night. In a portion of these nighttime accidents, the motorist fails to see the train in the grade crossing. One proposed solution to prevent such accidents...