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

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Dead Line Testing of Pantographs on the RTT Catenary System

The tests described in this report were carried out by the Transportation Test Center to verify the newly constructed overhead catenary system on the Railroad Test Track (RTT) and the pantographs to be used on it. The data produced included height and stagger measurements in support of the...

Angle of Attack and Wheel-Rail Wear

Angle of attack is one of the most important parameters influencing wheel and rail wear. Some experiments conducted on the IIT-GMEMD 1/4.5 test facility to study wear of wheels and rails are reported. The angle of attack range covered is from 6=0.25° to 6=1.00°. The drastic reduction in wheel...

An Evaluation of the Costs and Benefits of Railroad Electrification

This report, responds to issues raised in Section 901(7) of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act (4R Act) and discusses how electrification might contribute to or detract from meeting the objectives of this Act. This report is primarily limited to an evaluation of the potential...

A Low Cost Catenary Design-Analysis: Final Report, Tasks 1 & 2

A new system of railroad electrification has been studied that requires only a single contact conductor as opposed to the conventional catenary system. Preliminary designs for the various components have been developed and are described. These include the traveller (that rides on the contact...