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Technical Reports

PTC Test Facility Assessment and Laboratory Development: Phase I

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) provided funding to Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) to visit and assess multiple railroad developed Positive Train Control (PTC) test facilities. TTCI reviewed these railroad test methodologies to develop recommendations for a PTC industry...

Next Generation Track Circuits

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sponsored a project from June 8, 2015, through June 7, 2017, in which Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) investigated concepts and technologies for next generation track circuits (NGTC) that could support future methods of train control. Future...

Northeast Corridor PTC Radio Frequency Network Design

In 2014, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funded Transportation Technology Center, Inc.’s (TTCI) development of the 220 MHz radio frequency (RF) network design for the Interoperable Train Control (ITC) compliant Positive Train Control (PTC) systems along the Northeast Corridor (NEC), in...

PTC Radio Frequency Network Design for Dense Urban Areas

In 2013, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funded Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) to develop full designs of the 220 MHz Positive Train Control (PTC) radio frequency (RF) network for the dense urban areas (DUA) of Chicago, Kansas City (KC) and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW). FRA...

Unmanned Aircraft System Applications in International Railroads

This report summarizes the current uses and issues associated with Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in railroad applications, and provides the use cases employed by railroads. The report highlights global UAS market outlooks as well as regulations that influence the use of this technology around...

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Trackbed Moisture Sensor System

In this initial phase, conducted from March 2015 through December 2016, Vista Clara and its subcontractor Zetica Rail successfully developed and tested a man-portable, non-invasive spot-check nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) moisture sensor that directly measured moisture on water content in...