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FRA sponsored research to evaluate the side impact strength of Tier I passenger rail equipment designs built to the current rollover and side structure regulations. This report presents results from the first stage of this research program, including: (1) the makeup of the U.S. passenger car...
Bearing degradation and defects can result in a bearing being removed from service before the end of its normal service life or possible bearing failure, causing service disruption or even derailment. Water damage is the leading cause of premature bearing failure; therefore, preventing this...
The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center compared and contrasted U.S. fire safety regulations and standards on rolling stock with the European Union, Japan, and China. The major areas of study were fire safety analysis, materials performance standards, toxicity performance standards,...
The Federal Railroad Administration contracted Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) to explore the development and status of the Improved (or Integrated) Freight Car Truck (IFCT) and trace the development of the modern three-piece truck into the M-976 truck into the IFCT over the last...
ThermaDynamics Rail LLC (TDR) developed the Locomotive-Waste Heat Recovery Systems (L-WHRS) formed by high-pressure heat exchangers coupled to a closed-loop Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The L-WHRS can be configured to be non-invasively retrofitted onto different types of locomotive engines to...
The industry safety standard for fixed workstation tables on passenger railcars, APTA PR-CS-S-018-13, draft Rev. 2, provides two options for test procedures and requirements when evaluating crashworthy tables for protecting passengers during a collision. MGA Research Corporation performed six...
A previously developed methodology for reducing the physical scale of test articles for fire performance testing of rail car floors was benchmarked using a series of large-scale tests and validated finite element simulations. The simulations showed that the experimental differences between the...
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sponsored a project, performed by Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), to research the feasibility of an Onboard Broken Rail Detection (OBRD) concept. A parallel long term track impedance characterization effort was undertaken with the...
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) previously demonstrated advanced, remotely controlled, electro-mechanical systems, such as hand brakes, angle cocks, and cut levers that can contribute to increased safety and improved efficiency of freight railroad operations. The main impediment to...
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) conducted a side impact test of a surrogate DOT-113 tank car at the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) to evaluate the performance of the tank car under dynamic impact conditions and to provide data for the verification and refinement of a...