Technical Reports
Water Mist Fire Suppression Systems Feasibility Study
The Federal Railroad Administration tasked a team from the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to research the technical background and use of water mist fire suppression systems in handling on-board fires in locomotives and passenger cars. The team researched the feasibility...
Human-Automation Teaming in Track Inspection
This report provides a foundational overview of how the rail industry can approach the design of human-automation teams (HATs), with the goal of improving safety and efficiency in the track inspection process. The authors present a general process for designing HATs, then explore how this design...
Wireless Digital Train Line for Passenger Trains – Phase 3
In an extensive third phase of a Federal Railroad Administration-funded research project running from August 2020 through July 2022, a team at the Advanced Telecommunications Engineering Laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln designed, developed, and evaluated wireless communications...
Evaluation of Scenario-Based Team Training for Railroad Transportation Employees
In 2015, a peer review team (PRT), comprised of labor craft employees and railroad managers, developed railroad scenario-based training (SBT). The PRT was responsible for reviewing close call reports and developing recommendations to address unsafe conditions on the railroad. The objective of...
Relationship of Inspection Methods to Ballast Degradation Models: Phase I
This report compiles the first phase of a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)-sponsored project to evaluate lateral ballast behavior and how mechanics-based track geometry deterioration models forecast field behavior. The lateral ballast behavior section analyzed historical and recent single...
NDE Methods for Corrosion Monitoring in Railroad Tank Cars
This report discusses the use of various nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods for detecting and characterizing corrosion defects in tank cars. Several tank car panels with a real corrosion defect as well as simulated corrosion defects were fabricated from the actual tank car. Advanced NDE...
A Feasibility Study on Advanced Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Methods to Characterize Weld Defects in Railroad Tank Cars
Under the sponsorship and support of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), with participation from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of advanced nondestructive evaluation (NDE) equipment, NDE service providers, and other research...
Development of Symbology for a Locomotive Head-Up Display (HUD)
As part of a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)-funded Head-Up Display (HUD) research project that began in 2020, KEA Technologies Inc. developed a limited library of symbols for both freight and passenger operations, to be integrated in a prototype HUD developed separately by another team of...
Stakeholder Perceptions of Longer Trains
This report documents stakeholder perceptions emerging from focus groups about very long trains (VLTs) with participants from three labor unions, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and two freight railroads. All stakeholders expressed uncertainty about how to define a VLT and noted that...