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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,...
The research reported here, conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Volpe Center (Volpe), provides insight into (a) what changes assessed railroads have implemented based on their Safety Culture Assessment (SCA), and (b) what further technical assistance those railroads may need to...
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),...
In the Next Generation Railroad Tank Car Project, testing and analysis were performed on TC128B material as well as other tank car steels (e.g. A1011, A516-70). In a similar material evaluation effort, the Chlorine Institute sponsored a program to characterize other high strength low alloy (HSLA)...
This report presents estimates and formulas for conditional probabilities of release (CPR) for all common tank car configurations and components in service today, given that the tank car is involved in an FRA-reportable accident, as well as distributions of
the quantity of lading lost in the event...
Over the last decade, there has been significant ongoing research to develop strategies for improving railroad tank cars so they can maintain tank integrity for more severe accident conditions. Beginning in 2006 and continuing through 2009, Dow Chemical Company, Union Pacific Railroad, and Union...