Sample records for rail system modifications

  1. 49 CFR Appendix A to Part 37 - Modifications to Standards for Accessible Transportation Facilities

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... steps may have to travel compared to the general public. 406.8—Modification to 406 of Appendix D to 36... rail, commuter rail, and intercity rail systems where it is not operationally or structurally feasible...

  2. More than meets the eye: Using cognitive work analysis to identify design requirements for future rail level crossing systems.

    PubMed

    Salmon, Paul M; Lenné, Michael G; Read, Gemma J M; Mulvihill, Christine M; Cornelissen, Miranda; Walker, Guy H; Young, Kristie L; Stevens, Nicholas; Stanton, Neville A

    2016-03-01

    An increasing intensity of operations means that the longstanding safety issue of rail level crossings is likely to become worse in the transport systems of the future. It has been suggested that the failure to prevent collisions may be, in part, due to a lack of systems thinking during design, crash analysis, and countermeasure development. This paper presents a systems analysis of current active rail level crossing systems in Victoria, Australia that was undertaken to identify design requirements to improve safety in future rail level crossing environments. Cognitive work analysis was used to analyse rail level crossing systems using data derived from a range of activities. Overall the analysis identified a range of instances where modification or redesign in line with systems thinking could potentially improve behaviour and safety. A notable finding is that there are opportunities for redesign outside of the physical rail level crossing infrastructure, including improved data systems, in-vehicle warnings and modifications to design processes, standards and guidelines. The implications for future rail level crossing systems are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  3. Investigation of rail wheel steel crystallographic texture changes due to modification and thermomechanical treatment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lychagina, T.; Nikolayev, D.; Sanin, A.; Tatarko, J.; Ullemeyer, K.

    2015-04-01

    In this work crystallographic texture for a set of rail wheel steel samples with different regimes of thermo-mechanical treatment and with and without modification by system Al-Mg-Si- Fe-C-Ca-Ti-Ce was measured by neutron diffraction. The texture measurements were carried out by using time-of-flight technique at SKAT diffractometer situated at IBR-2 reactor (Dubna, JINR, Russia). The three complete pole figures (110), (200), (211) of α-Fe phase in 5°×5°grid were extracted from a set of 1368 spectra measured for each sample. The samples were cut from rail wheel rim and from transitional zone (between rail wheel hub and wheel disk). It was concluded that the steel modification and some changes in the heat treatment modes of the rail wheels from the experimental (modified) and the conventional (non-modified) steel lead to reorientation of texture component.

  4. 36 CFR Appendix F to Part 1191 - Modifications Adopted by the Department of Transportation

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... negotiate steps may have to travel compared to the general public. Modification to 406 of Appendix D 406... shall be 8 inches (205 mm) minimum above top of rail. In light rail, commuter rail, and intercity rail...

  5. Alleviation of pressure pulse effects for trains entering tunnels. Volume 1: Summary

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dayman, B., Jr.; Hammitt, A. G.; Holway, H. P.; Tucker, C. E., Jr.; Vardy, A. E.

    1979-01-01

    The degree to which it is possible to attenuate the effects of pressure pulses on the passengers in trains entering tunnels by modifying the normally abrupt portal of a constant-diameter single track tunnel was investigated. Although the suggested modifications to the tunnel entrance portal may not appreciably decrease the magnitude of the pressure rise, they are very effective in reducing the discomfort to the human ear by substantially decreasing the rate of pressure rise to that which the normal ear can accommodate. Qualitative comparison was made of this portal modification approach with other approaches: decreasing the train speed or sealing the cars. The optimum approach, which is dependent upon the conditions and requirements of each particular rail system, is likely to be the portal modification one for a rapid rail mass transit system.

  6. Cost Savings Potential of Modification to the Standard Light Rail Vehicle Specification

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1979-02-01

    This report describes an assessment of the Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) specification to determine whether the relaxation or modification of some requirements could result in a significant reduction in vehicle costs. A Technique of Assessment b...

  7. Wear Enhancement of Wheel-Rail Interaction by Ultrasonic Nanocrystalline Surface Modification Technique.

    PubMed

    Chang, Seky; Pyun, Young-Sik; Amanov, Auezhan

    2017-02-16

    In this study, an ultrasonic nanocrystalline surface modification (UNSM) technique was applied to normal and heat-treated rails made of 60 kgK steel to enhance the wear resistance of the wheel-rail interaction. The hardness and compressive residual stress values of the untreated and UNSM-treated rails were measured by the Brinell hardness tester and X-ray diffraction technique, respectively. It was found, according to the measurement results, that the hardness was increased by about 20% and 8%, whereas the compressive residual stress was induced by about 52% and 62% for the UNSM-treated normal and heat-treated rails, respectively. The UNSM-treated normal rail showed a slightly higher hardness than the heat-treated rail. The wear resistance of rails with respect to rotating speed and rolling time was assessed using a rolling contact wear (RCW) tester under dry conditions. The RCW test results revealed that the wear of the UNSM-treated rails was enhanced in comparison with those of the untreated rails. Also, the wear amount of the rails was increased with increasing the rotation speed. The UNSM-treated normal rail exhibited the highest wear resistance with respect to the rotation speed. The wear mechanisms of the rails are also discussed based on microscopic images of the worn out surfaces.

  8. Wear Enhancement of Wheel-Rail Interaction by Ultrasonic Nanocrystalline Surface Modification Technique

    PubMed Central

    Chang, Seky; Pyun, Young-Sik; Amanov, Auezhan

    2017-01-01

    In this study, an ultrasonic nanocrystalline surface modification (UNSM) technique was applied to normal and heat-treated rails made of 60 kgK steel to enhance the wear resistance of the wheel-rail interaction. The hardness and compressive residual stress values of the untreated and UNSM-treated rails were measured by the Brinell hardness tester and X-ray diffraction technique, respectively. It was found, according to the measurement results, that the hardness was increased by about 20% and 8%, whereas the compressive residual stress was induced by about 52% and 62% for the UNSM-treated normal and heat-treated rails, respectively. The UNSM-treated normal rail showed a slightly higher hardness than the heat-treated rail. The wear resistance of rails with respect to rotating speed and rolling time was assessed using a rolling contact wear (RCW) tester under dry conditions. The RCW test results revealed that the wear of the UNSM-treated rails was enhanced in comparison with those of the untreated rails. Also, the wear amount of the rails was increased with increasing the rotation speed. The UNSM-treated normal rail exhibited the highest wear resistance with respect to the rotation speed. The wear mechanisms of the rails are also discussed based on microscopic images of the worn out surfaces. PMID:28772549

  9. Evidence-based practice guidelines for prescribing home modifications for clients with bariatric care needs.

    PubMed

    de Lange, Laura; Coyle, Emma; Todd, Helen; Williams, Cylie

    2018-04-01

    Home modifications maintain people's functional independence and safety. No literature exists to guide the prescription of home modifications for clients with bariatric care needs. With Australia's increasing obesity rate, more evidence is needed to support home modification prescribers. This study aimed to map Australian home modification prescribing practices for clients with bariatric care needs and to establish and evaluate a clinical resource for this prescription process. The study included two phases. Phase 1 conducted a cross-sectional survey of therapists practicing in Australia, and Australian industry partners who prescribe or install home modifications for clients with bariatric care needs. Phase 2 included design, implementation and evaluation of a clinical resource. Data were analysed with means and frequencies; multivariable regression analysis was used to explore prescribing habits. Therapists surveyed (n = 347) reported 11 different bariatric weight definitions. Less than 3% constantly or regularly prescribed home modifications for these clients; rails were most commonly prescribed. Many therapists (n = 171, 58%) 'never' or 'rarely' knew rail load capacity. Therapists' knowledge of rail load capacity was associated with previous experience prescribing home modifications (P = 0.009); rail manufacturer's advice (P = 0.016) and not using advice from builders (P = 0.001). Clinical resources were used by 11% (n = 26) of therapists to support their prescription, and industry sporadically relied on therapists to specify modification design requirements (n = 5, 45%). Post-implementation of a clinical resource increased consensus regarding understanding of the term bariatric and increased consultation with builders and manufacturers. There was a lack of consistency in bariatric terminology, uncertainty of rail load capacities and minimal use of clinical practice guidelines. Additional resources will assist with consistency in prescribing practices to maximise occupational performance for clients with bariatric care needs. © 2018 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  10. Fall Protection Procedures for Sealing Bulk Waste Shipments by Rail Cars at Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) Sites - 13509

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Boyle, J.D.; Fort, E. Joseph; Lorenz, William

    2013-07-01

    Rail-cars loaded with radioactive materials must be closed and fastened to comply with United States Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements before they shipped. Securing waste shipments in a manner that meets these regulations typically results in the use of a sealable rail-car liner. Workers accessing the tops of the 2.74 m high rail-cars to seal and inspect liners for compliance prior to shipment may be exposed to a fall hazard. Relatively recent revisions to the Fall Protection requirements in the Safety and Health Requirements Manual (EM385-1-1, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) have necessitated modifications to the fall protection systems previouslymore » employed for rail-car loading at Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) sites. In response these projects have developed site-specific procedures to protect workers and maintain compliance with the improved fall protection regulations. (authors)« less

  11. Energy and Environment 1990: Transportation-induced noise and air pollution

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1990-01-01

    Contents: public reaction to low levels of aircraft noise; airport noise insulation of homes surrounding stapleton international airport; sound insulation and thermal performance modifications: case study for three dwellings near bwi airport; single-number ratings for outdoor-indoor sound insulation; control of wheel squeal noise in rail transit cars; knowledge-based preprocessor for traffic noise prediction; barrier overlap analysis procedure; atmospheric effects on traffic noise propagation; predicting stop-and-go traffic noise with stamina 2.0; feasibility of transparent noise barriers; field testing of the effectiveness of open-graded asphalt pavement in reducing tire noise from highway vehicles; cost of noise barrier construction in the united states;more » comparisons of emissions of transit buses using methanol and diesel fuel; high-speed rail system noise assessment; energy-related, environmental, and economic benefits of florida's high-speed rail and maglev systems proposals.« less

  12. Noise reduction in urban LRT networks by combining track based solutions.

    PubMed

    Vogiatzis, Konstantinos; Vanhonacker, Patrick

    2016-10-15

    The overall objective of the Quiet-Track project is to provide step-changing track based noise mitigation and maintenance schemes for railway rolling noise in LRT (Light Rail Transit) networks. WP 4 in particular focuses on the combination of existing track based solutions to yield a global performance of at least 6dB(A). The validation was carried out using a track section in the network of Athens Metro Line 1 with an existing outside concrete slab track (RHEDA track) where high airborne rolling noise was observed. The procedure for the selection of mitigation measures is based on numerical simulations, combining WRNOISE and IMMI software tools for noise prediction with experimental determination of the required track and vehicle parameters (e.g., rail and wheel roughness). The availability of a detailed rolling noise calculation procedure allows for detailed designing of measures and of ranking individual measures. It achieves this by including the modelling of the wheel/rail source intensity and of the noise propagation with the ability to evaluate the effect of modifications at source level (e.g., grinding, rail dampers, wheel dampers, change in resiliency of wheels and/or rail fixation) and of modifications in the propagation path (absorption at the track base, noise barriers, screening). A relevant combination of existing solutions was selected in the function of the simulation results. Three distinct existing solutions were designed in detail aiming at a high rolling noise attenuation and not affecting the normal operation of the metro system: Action 1: implementation of sound absorbing precast elements (panel type) on the track bed, Action 2: implementation of an absorbing noise barrier with a height of 1.10-1.20m above rail level, and Action 3: installation of rail dampers. The selected solutions were implemented on site and the global performance was measured step by step for comparison with simulations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Carbody elastic vibrations of high-speed vehicles caused by bogie hunting instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wei, Lai; Zeng, Jing; Chi, Maoru; Wang, Jianbin

    2017-09-01

    In particular locations of the high-speed track, the worn wheel profile matched up with the worn rail profile will lead to an extremely high-conicity wheel-rail contact. Consequently, the bogie hunting instability arises, which further results in the so-called carbody shaking phenomenon. In this paper, the carbody elastic vibrations of a high-speed vehicle in service are firstly introduced. Modal tests are conducted to identity the elastic modes of the carbody. The ride comfort and running safety indices for the tested vehicle are evaluated. The rigid-flexible coupling dynamic model for the high-speed passenger car is then developed by using the FE and MBS coupling approach. The rail profiles in those particular locations are measured and further integrated into the simulation model to reproduce the bogie hunting and carbody elastic vibrations. The effects of wheel and rail wear on the vehicle system response, e.g. wheelset bifurcation graph and carbody vibrations, are studied. Two improvement measures, including the wheel profile modification and rail grinding, are proposed to provide possible solutions. It is found that the wheel-rail contact conicity can be lowered by decreasing wheel flange thickness or grinding rail corner, which is expected to improve the bogie hunting stability under worn rail and worn wheel conditions. The carbody elastic vibrations caused by bogie hunting instability can be further restrained.

  14. Steel bridge in interaction with modern slab track fastening systems under various vertical load levels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stančík, Vojtěch; Ryjáček, Pavel; Vokáč, Miroslav

    2017-09-01

    In modern slab tracks the continuously welded rail (CWR) is coupled through the fastening system with the substructure. The resulting restriction of expansion movement causes significant rail stress increments, which in the case of extreme loading may cause rail failures. These interaction phenomenon effects are naturally higher on a bridge due to different deformation capabilities of the bridge and the CWR. The presented contribution aims at investigating the state of the art European direct fastening system that is suitable for application on steel bridges. Analysis involves experimental determination of its nonlinear longitudinal interaction parameters under various vertical loads and numerical validation. During experimental procedures a two and a half meter long laboratory sample equipped with four nodes of the Vossloh DFF 300 was tested. There have been checked both DFF 300 modifications using the skl 15 tension clamps and the low resistance skl B15 tension clamps. The effects of clamping force lowering on the interaction parameters have also been investigated. Results are discussed in the paper.

  15. 23 CFR Appendix D to Subpart A of... - Guidance Criteria for Evaluating Requests for Modifications to the National Highway System

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems Pt... volumes, or daily vehicular traffic on one or more principal routes that serve the intermodal facility... and ride lots with more than 500 vehicle parking spaces, or 5,000 daily bus or rail passengers, with...

  16. Space shuttle heat pipe thermal control systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Alario, J.

    1973-01-01

    Heat pipe (HP) thermal control systems designed for possible space shuttle applications were built and tested under this program. They are: (1) a HP augmented cold rail, (2) a HP/phase change material (PCM) modular heat sink and (3) a HP radiating panel for compartment temperature control. The HP augmented cold rail is similar to a standard two-passage fluid cold rail except that it contains an integral, centrally located HP throughout its length. The central HP core helps to increase the local power density capability by spreading concentrated heat inputs over the entire rail. The HP/PCM modular heat sink system consists of a diode HP connected in series to a standard HP that has a PCM canister attached to its mid-section. It is designed to connect a heat source to a structural heat sink during normal operation, and to automatically decouple from it and sink to the PCM whenever structural temperatures are too high. The HP radiating panel is designed to conductively couple the panel feeder HPs directly to a fluid line that serves as a source of waste heat. It is a simple strap-on type of system that requires no internal or external line modifications to distribute the heat to a large radiating area.

  17. Energy storage and alternatives to improve train voltage on a mass transit system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gordon, S. P.; Rorke, W. S.

    1995-04-01

    The wide separation of substations in the Bay Area Rapid Transit system's transbay tunnel contributes to voltage sag when power demand is high. In the future, expansions to the system will exacerbate this problem by increasing traffic density. Typically, this situation is remedied through the installation of additional substations to increase the system's power capacity. We have evaluated the efficacy of several alternatives to this approach - specifically, installation of an 8 megajoule energy storage system, modification of the existing substations, or reduction of the resistance of the running rails or the third rail. To support this analysis, we have developed a simple model of the traction power system in the tunnel. We have concluded that the storage system does not have sufficient capacity to deal with the expected voltage sags; in this application, the alternatives present more effective solutions. We have also investigated the potential impact of these system upgrades on expected future capital outlays by BART for traction power infrastructure additions. We have found that rail or substation upgrades may reduce the need for additional substations. These upgrades may also be effective on other parts of the BART system and on other traction power systems.

  18. DART Fixed-Route Service Review Study: Executive Summary

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1995-02-01

    This study analyzes the probable impact of new light rail transit and commuter rail service into the Dallas Central Business District on existing Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) bus service. It looks at possible route and schedule modifications to e...

  19. Aerodynamic Improvements to Cargo Carrying Rail Cars due to Roof Modifications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Condie, Robert; Maynes, Daniel

    2012-11-01

    The aerodynamic drag associated with the transport of commodities by rail is becoming increasingly important as the cost of diesel fuel increases. We provide an assessment of the influence of the roof structure on aerodynamic performance of two dissimilar rail cars, namely automobile carrying cars and coal carrying cars. Currently, the roof material for automobile carrying rail cars is corrugated steel, with the corrugation aligned perpendicular to the direction of travel. Coal cars are currently left uncovered for loading convenience and on the return leg from the power plant are empty. Aerodynamic drag data have been obtained through wind tunnel testing on 1/29 scale models to understand the savings that may be realized by judicious modification to the tops of both these car types. For the automobile-carrying cars, testing is performed for the corrugated and smooth roof configurations. This modification alone has the potential of reducing the car drag coefficient by nominally 25%. A broader study is performed for the coal cars, with data being acquired for coal filled models, empty models, and several cover prototype configurations. The results reveal that implementation of a cover may yield reductions in the aerodynamic drag for both coal filled (nominally 7%) and empty coal cars (nominally 30%).

  20. Evaluation of cab car crashworthiness design modifications

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-03-01

    A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of structural : modifications to rail cab cars for increased crashworthiness protection in train collisions. The crashworthiness benefits were calculated based on a particular design's ability to pr...

  1. Estimating the effects of light rail transit on health care costs.

    PubMed

    Stokes, Robert J; MacDonald, John; Ridgeway, Greg

    2008-03-01

    In recent years, there has been a proliferation of research on the effects of the built environment, including mass transit systems, on health-related outcomes. While there is general agreement that the built environment affects travel choices and physical activity, it remains unclear how much of a public health benefit (in dollars) can be derived from land use policies that support walking, biking, and transit. In the present study, we develop a model to assess the potential cost savings in public health that will be realized from the investment in a new light rail transit system in Charlotte, NC. Relying on estimates of future riders, area obesity rates, and the effects of public transit on physical activity (daily walking to and from the transit stations), we simulated the potential yearly public health cost savings associated with this infrastructure investment. Our results indicate that investing in light rail is associated with a 9-year cumulative public health cost savings of dollars 12.6 million. While these results suggest that there is a sizable public health benefit associated with the adoption of light rail, they also indicate that the effects are relatively small compared to the costs associated with constructing and operating such systems. These findings suggest that planning efforts that focus solely on the health impact of modifications in the built environment are likely to overstate the economic benefits. Public health benefits should be considered along with broader environmental health benefits.

  2. Bubble propagation on a rail: a concept for sorting bubbles by size

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Franco-Gómez, Andrés; Thompson, Alice B.; Hazel, Andrew L.; Juel, Anne

    We demonstrate experimentally that the introduction of a rail, a small height constriction, within the cross-section of a rectangular channel could be used as a robust passive sorting device in two-phase fluid flows. Single air bubbles carried within silicone oil are generally transported on one side of the rail. However, for flow rates marginally larger than a critical value, a narrow band of bubble sizes can propagate (stably) over the rail, while bubbles of other sizes segregate to the side of the rail. The width of this band of bubble sizes increases with flow rate and the size of the most stable bubble can be tuned by varying the rail width. We present a complementary theoretical analysis based on a depth-averaged theory, which is in qualitative agreement with the experiments. The theoretical study reveals that the mechanism relies on a non-trivial interaction between capillary and viscous forces that is fully dynamic, rather than being a simple modification of capillary static solutions.

  3. Multiple pole electromagnetic propulsion system with separated ballistic guidance and electrical current contact surfaces

    DOEpatents

    Sims, Jr., James R.

    2008-07-15

    An electromagnetic propulsion system is disclosed having separate rails for ballistic guidance and for carrying current. In this system, one or more pairs of ballistic guidance rails are provided, with each ballistic guidance rail having a pair of current carrying rails joined to it to form a combined rail. Each combined rail is separated electrically from adjacent combined rails by electrically insulating blocks. Each of the current carrying rails in a given combined rail pair have the same electrical polarity, and the polarities alternate between adjacent combined rails. Armatures contact current carrying rails to complete the circuit to generate the accelerating Lorentz force on the armatures. Bore riders on the sabot and/or projectile are in contact with the ballistic guide rails. Separation of the current carrying and ballistic guidance functions increases resistance of the system to rail movement and bending, as well as reduced wear/damage to the rails. In further embodiments, a circumferential over wrap providing compressive force on the rails further increases resistance of the system to rail movement and bending.

  4. 49 CFR 37.83 - Remanufacture of rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.83... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a rapid or... operates a rapid or light rail system any segment of which is included on the National Register of Historic...

  5. 49 CFR 37.83 - Remanufacture of rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.83... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a rapid or... operates a rapid or light rail system any segment of which is included on the National Register of Historic...

  6. 49 CFR 37.83 - Remanufacture of rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.83... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a rapid or... operates a rapid or light rail system any segment of which is included on the National Register of Historic...

  7. 49 CFR 37.83 - Remanufacture of rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.83... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a rapid or... operates a rapid or light rail system any segment of which is included on the National Register of Historic...

  8. 49 CFR 37.83 - Remanufacture of rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.83... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a rapid or... operates a rapid or light rail system any segment of which is included on the National Register of Historic...

  9. 49 CFR 37.79 - Purchase or lease of new rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.79 Section 37.79 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. Each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system making a... system shall ensure that the vehicle is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities...

  10. 49 CFR 37.79 - Purchase or lease of new rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.79 Section 37.79 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. Each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system making a... system shall ensure that the vehicle is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities...

  11. 49 CFR 37.79 - Purchase or lease of new rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.79 Section 37.79 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. Each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system making a... system shall ensure that the vehicle is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities...

  12. 49 CFR 37.79 - Purchase or lease of new rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.79 Section 37.79 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. Each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system making a... system shall ensure that the vehicle is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities...

  13. 49 CFR 37.79 - Purchase or lease of new rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.79 Section 37.79 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. Each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system making a... system shall ensure that the vehicle is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities...

  14. Excitation Method of Linear-Motor-Type Rail Brake without Using Power Sources by Dynamic Braking with Zero Electrical Output

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sakamoto, Yasuaki; Kashiwagi, Takayuki; Hasegawa, Hitoshi; Sasakawa, Takashi; Fujii, Nobuo

    The eddy current rail brake is a type of braking system used in railway vehicles. Because of problems such as rail heating and problems associated with ensuring that power is supplied when the feeder malfunctions, this braking system has not been used for practical applications in Japan. Therefore, we proposed the use of linear induction motor (LIM) technology in eddy current rail brake systems. The LIM rail brake driven by dynamic braking can reduce rail heating and generate the energy required for self-excitation. In this paper, we present an excitation system and control method for the LIM rail brake driven by “dynamic braking with zero electrical output”. The proposed system is based on the concept that the LIM rail brake can be energized without using excitation power sources such as a feeder circuit and that high reliability can be realized by providing an independent excitation system. We have studied this system and conducted verification tests using a prototype LIM rail brake on a roller rig. The results show that the system performance is adequate for commercializing the proposed system, in which the LIM rail brake is driven without using any excitation power source.

  15. Securing America’s Passenger-Rail Systems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-01-01

    around the world highlight the vulnerability of rail travel and the importance of rail security for these passengers. The use of passenger rail and...take to U.S. railways. Recent attacks on passenger-rail systems around the world highlight the vulnerability of rail travel and the importance of rail...rails (Boardman, 2005), making more than 3.5 billion trips (APTA, 2006).1 And these estimates do not count the passengers traveling on the National

  16. Crashworthiness evaluation of light rail vehicle interiors.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-12-01

    Statistically, light rail transit (LRT) systems have higher injury rates on a perpassengermile basis than heavy rail and commuter rail systems, because in most cities, light rail vehicles (LRVs) operate on city streets. Passenger safety is depe...

  17. 49 CFR 37.81 - Purchase or lease of used rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.81 Section 37.81 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) Except as provided elsewhere in this section, each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system which, after August 25, 1990, purchases or leases a used rapid or...

  18. 49 CFR 37.81 - Purchase or lease of used rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.81 Section 37.81 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) Except as provided elsewhere in this section, each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system which, after August 25, 1990, purchases or leases a used rapid or...

  19. 49 CFR 37.81 - Purchase or lease of used rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.81 Section 37.81 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) Except as provided elsewhere in this section, each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system which, after August 25, 1990, purchases or leases a used rapid or...

  20. 49 CFR 37.81 - Purchase or lease of used rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.81 Section 37.81 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) Except as provided elsewhere in this section, each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system which, after August 25, 1990, purchases or leases a used rapid or...

  1. 49 CFR 37.81 - Purchase or lease of used rail vehicles by public entities operating rapid or light rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... entities operating rapid or light rail systems. 37.81 Section 37.81 Transportation Office of the Secretary... operating rapid or light rail systems. (a) Except as provided elsewhere in this section, each public entity operating a rapid or light rail system which, after August 25, 1990, purchases or leases a used rapid or...

  2. Solar panel truss mounting systems and methods

    DOEpatents

    Al-Haddad, Tristan Farris; Cavieres, Andres; Gentry, Russell; Goodman, Joseph; Nolan, Wade; Pitelka, Taylor; Rahimzadeh, Keyan; Brooks, Bradley; Lohr, Joshua; Crooks, Ryan; Porges, Jamie; Rubin, Daniel

    2015-10-20

    An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a solar panel truss mounting system comprising a base and a truss assembly coupled to the base. The truss assembly comprises a first panel rail mount, second panel rail mount parallel to the first panel rail mount, base rail mount parallel to the first and second panel rail mounts, and a plurality of support members. A first portion of the plurality of support members extends between the first and second panel rail mounts. A second portion of the plurality of support members extends between the first panel rail mount and the base rail mount. A third portion of the plurality of support members extends between the second panel rail mount and the base rail mount. The system can further comprise a plurality of connectors for coupling a plurality of photovoltaic solar panels to the truss assembly.

  3. Solar panel truss mounting systems and methods

    DOEpatents

    Al-Haddad, Tristan Farris; Cavieres, Andres; Gentry, Russell; Goodman, Joseph; Nolan, Wade; Pitelka, Taylor; Rahimzadeh, Keyan; Brooks, Bradley; Lohr, Joshua; Crooks, Ryan; Porges, Jamie; Rubin, Daniel

    2016-06-28

    An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a solar panel truss mounting system comprising a base and a truss assembly coupled to the base. The truss assembly comprises a first panel rail mount, second panel rail mount parallel to the first panel rail mount, base rail mount parallel to the first and second panel rail mounts, and a plurality of support members. A first portion of the plurality of support members extends between the first and second panel rail mounts. A second portion of the plurality of support members extends between the first panel rail mount and the base rail mount. A third portion of the plurality of support members extends between the second panel rail mount and the base rail mount. The system can further comprise a plurality of connectors for coupling a plurality of photovoltaic solar panels to the truss assembly.

  4. Intercity passenger rail : assessing the benefits of increased federal funding for Amtrak and high-speed passenger rail systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-03-21

    The Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 created Amtrak to provide intercity passenger rail service. Like other major national intercity passenger rail systems in the world, Amtrak has received substantial government support-nearly $24 billion for capi...

  5. Power System Implementation and Demonstration at Camp Katuu, Palau

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-05-11

    Horizontal Rows 3 Vertical Rows 3 Vertical Rows with Center Walkway 6 Vertical Rows 1 Amount of rail mounting (lf) 1440’ 1800’ 1800’ 1440’ 2 Ease of rail...installation some rail cutting required to clear walkway requires two level rail mounting system requires two level rail mounting system no rail...Maintenance access 21" horizontal & vertical walkway , does not have direct access to all panels Accessible with 15" walkways Direct access to each panel and

  6. Solar panel truss mounting systems and methods

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Al-Haddad, Tristan Farris; Cavieres, Andres; Gentry, Russell

    An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a solar panel truss mounting system comprising a base and a truss assembly coupled to the base. The truss assembly comprises a first panel rail mount, second panel rail mount parallel to the first panel rail mount, base rail mount parallel to the first and second panel rail mounts, and a plurality of support members. A first portion of the plurality of support members extends between the first and second panel rail mounts. A second portion of the plurality of support members extends between the first panel rail mount and the basemore » rail mount. A third portion of the plurality of support members extends between the second panel rail mount and the base rail mount. The system can further comprise a plurality of connectors for coupling a plurality of photovoltaic solar panels to the truss assembly.« less

  7. 49 CFR 659.39 - Oversight agency reporting to the Federal Transit Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... accidents, status of corrective actions, updates and modifications to rail transit agency program...-year safety review has been completed since the last annual report was submitted. (3) Program standard...

  8. 49 CFR 659.39 - Oversight agency reporting to the Federal Transit Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... accidents, status of corrective actions, updates and modifications to rail transit agency program...-year safety review has been completed since the last annual report was submitted. (3) Program standard...

  9. 49 CFR 659.39 - Oversight agency reporting to the Federal Transit Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... accidents, status of corrective actions, updates and modifications to rail transit agency program...-year safety review has been completed since the last annual report was submitted. (3) Program standard...

  10. 49 CFR 659.39 - Oversight agency reporting to the Federal Transit Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... accidents, status of corrective actions, updates and modifications to rail transit agency program...-year safety review has been completed since the last annual report was submitted. (3) Program standard...

  11. Excitation of Surface Electromagnetic Waves on Railroad Rail

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1978-03-31

    UMTA's Office of Rail Technology research programs aim to improve urban rail transportation systems safety. This rail-transit research study attempts to develop an onboard, separate and independent obstacle-detection system--Surface Electromagnetic W...

  12. 36 CFR 1192.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false High-speed rail cars... TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Other Vehicles and Systems § 1192.175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including but not limited to those using “maglev” or high speed...

  13. 49 CFR 38.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. 38....175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including... for high-platform, level boarding and shall comply with § 38.111(a) of this part for each type of car...

  14. 49 CFR 38.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. 38....175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including... for high-platform, level boarding and shall comply with § 38.111(a) of this part for each type of car...

  15. 49 CFR 38.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. 38....175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including... for high-platform, level boarding and shall comply with § 38.111(a) of this part for each type of car...

  16. 36 CFR 1192.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false High-speed rail cars... TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Other Vehicles and Systems § 1192.175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including but not limited to those using “maglev” or high speed...

  17. 36 CFR 1192.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false High-speed rail cars... TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Other Vehicles and Systems § 1192.175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including but not limited to those using “maglev” or high speed...

  18. 36 CFR § 1192.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2013-07-01 2012-07-01 true High-speed rail cars... TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Other Vehicles and Systems § 1192.175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including but not limited to those using “maglev” or high speed...

  19. 49 CFR 38.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. 38....175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including... for high-platform, level boarding and shall comply with § 38.111(a) of this part for each type of car...

  20. 36 CFR 1192.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false High-speed rail cars... TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Other Vehicles and Systems § 1192.175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including but not limited to those using “maglev” or high speed...

  1. 49 CFR 38.175 - High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. 38....175 High-speed rail cars, monorails and systems. (a) All cars for high-speed rail systems, including... for high-platform, level boarding and shall comply with § 38.111(a) of this part for each type of car...

  2. Rail Integrity Experience on the Washington Metro System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-04-12

    The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) provides passenger rail service to the nations capital. Although the rail system carries only passenger trains, the rail integrity issues that WMATA must manage are similar to those that f...

  3. The commuter rail circulator network design problem : formulation, solution methods, and applications

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-08-01

    Commuter rail is increasingly popular as a means to introduce rail transportation to metropolitan transportation systems. The long-term benefits of commuter rail include the addition of capacity to the transportation system, providing a quality commu...

  4. Single-chip microcomputer for image processing in the photonic measuring system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smoleva, Olga S.; Ljul, Natalia Y.

    2002-04-01

    The non-contact measuring system has been designed for rail- track parameters control on the Moscow Metro. It detects some significant parameters: rail-track width, rail-track height, gage, rail-slums, crosslevel, pickets, and car speed. The system consists of three subsystems: non-contact system of rail-track width, height, and gage inspection, non-contact system of rail-slums inspection and subsystem for crosslevel, speed, and pickets detection. Data from subsystems is transferred to pre-processing unit. In order to process data received from subsystems, the single-chip signal processor ADSP-2185 must be used due to providing required processing speed. After data will be processed, it is send to PC, which processes it and outputs it in the readable form.

  5. Midwest regional rail system : a transportation network for the 21 century : executive report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-02-01

    The Midwest Regional Rail Initiative is an ongoing effort to develop an improved and expanded passenger rail system in the Midwest. Since 1996, the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MWRRI) advanced from a series of service concepts, including increas...

  6. Wheel/Rail Noise Control : A Critical Evaluation

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-01-01

    Noise and vibration are the major sources of environmental impact from urban rail transit operations, and is a concern for both new and existing systems. One of the primary sources of noise on rail transit systems is wheel/rail noise, or, the noise e...

  7. In-Service Performance and Costs of Methods to Control Urban Rail System Noise

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1979-12-01

    This study evaluates the acoustic and economic effectiveness of five methods of controlling wheel/rail noise and vibration on urban rail transit systems, namely: rail grinding, wheel truing, resilient wheels, ring-damped wheels, and welded vs. jointe...

  8. Multi-point contact of the high-speed vehicle-turnout system dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ren, Zunsong

    2013-05-01

    The wheel-rail contact problems, such as the number, location and the track of contact patches, are very important for optimizing the spatial structure of the rails and lowering the vehicle-turnout system dynamics. However, the above problems are not well solved currently because of having the difficulties in how to determine the multi-contact, to preciously present the changeable profiles of the rails and to establish an accurate spatial turnout system dynamics model. Based on a high-speed vehicle-turnout coupled model in which the track is modeled as flexible with rails and sleepers represented by beams, the line tracing extreme point method is introduced to investigate the wheel-rail multiple contact conditions and the key sections of the blade rail, longer nose rail, shorter rail in the switch and nose rail area are discretized to represent the varying profiles of rails in the turnout. The dynamic interaction between the vehicle and turnout is simulated for cases of the vehicle divergently passing the turnout and the multi-point contact is obtained. The tracks of the contact patches on the top of the rails are presented and the wheel-rail impact forces are offered in comparison with the contact patches transference on the rails. The numerical simulation results indicate that the length of two-point contact occurrence of a worn wheel profile and rails is longer than that of the new wheel profile and rails; The two-point contact definitely occurs in the switch and crossing area. Generally, three-point contact doesn't occur for the new rail profile, which is testified by the wheel-rails interpolation distance and the first order derivative function of the tracing line extreme points. The presented research is not only helpful to optimize the structure of the turnout, but also useful to lower the dynamics of the high speed vehicle-turnout system.

  9. Composite armor, armor system and vehicle including armor system

    DOEpatents

    Chu, Henry S.; Jones, Warren F.; Lacy, Jeffrey M.; Thinnes, Gary L.

    2013-01-01

    Composite armor panels are disclosed. Each panel comprises a plurality of functional layers comprising at least an outermost layer, an intermediate layer and a base layer. An armor system incorporating armor panels is also disclosed. Armor panels are mounted on carriages movably secured to adjacent rails of a rail system. Each panel may be moved on its associated rail and into partially overlapping relationship with another panel on an adjacent rail for protection against incoming ordnance from various directions. The rail system may be configured as at least a part of a ring, and be disposed about a hatch on a vehicle. Vehicles including an armor system are also disclosed.

  10. Impact of the rail-pad multi-discrete model upon the prediction of the rail response

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mazilu, T.; Leu, M.

    2017-08-01

    Wheel/rail vibration has many technical effects such as wear of the rolling surfaces, rolling noise, settlement of the ballast and subgrade etc. This vibration is depending on the rail pad characteristic and subsequently, it is important to have an accurate overview on the relation between the rail pad characteristic and the level of the wheel/rail vibration. To this end, much theoretical and experimental research has been developed in the past, and for the theoretical approach the track model, in general, and, particularly, the rail pad model is of crucial importance. Usually, the rail pad model is discrete model one, neglecting the length of the rail pad. This fact is questionable because the sleepers span is only 4 times the rail pad length. Using the rail pad discrete model, the rail response is overestimated when the frequency of the excitation equals the pinned-pinned resonance frequency. In this paper, a multi-discrete model for the rail pad, consisting in many Kelvin-Voigt parallel systems, is inserted into an analytical model of the track. The track model is reduced to a rail taken as infinite Timoshenko beam, discretely supported via rail pad, sleeper and ballast. The influence of the number of Kelvin-Voigt systems of the rail pad model on the rail response is analysed.

  11. 78 FR 65244 - Rail Vehicles Access Advisory Committee

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-31

    ...-0001] RIN 3014-AA42 Rail Vehicles Access Advisory Committee AGENCY: Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. ACTION: Notice of advisory committee meeting. SUMMARY: The Rail Vehicles Access... vehicles that operate on fixed guideway systems (e.g., rapid rail, light rail, commuter rail, intercity...

  12. Proceedings : Seminar on the use of Composite Third Rail in Electrified Transit and Commuter Rail Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1978-11-01

    The seminar was organized at the request of UMTA to disseminate accurate information on, and experience with, composite (aluminum and steel) third, or contact rail, in wayside power distribution systems of electrified urban rail properties. The semin...

  13. Emulation study on system characteristic of high pressure common-rail fuel injection system for marine medium-speed diesel engine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Qinpeng; Yang, Jianguo; Xin, Dong; He, Yuhai; Yu, Yonghua

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, based on the characteristic analyzing of the mechanical fuel injection system for the marine medium-speed diesel engine, a sectional high-pressure common rail fuel injection system is designed, rated condition rail pressure of which is 160MPa. The system simulation model is built and the performance of the high pressure common rail fuel injection system is analyzed, research results provide the technical foundation for the system engineering development.

  14. Review on Malaysian Rail Transit Operation and Management System: Issues and Solution in Integration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Masirin, Mohd Idrus Mohd; Salin, Aminah Mohd; Zainorabidin, Adnan; Martin, David; Samsuddin, Norshakina

    2017-08-01

    In any context, operation and management of transportation systems are key issues which may affect both life quality and economic development. In large urban agglomerations, an efficient public transportation system may help abate the negative externalities of private car use such as congestion, air and noise pollution, accident and fuel consumption, without excessively penalizing user travel times or zone accessibility. Thus, this study is conducted to appraise the Malaysian rural rail transit operation and management system, which are considered important as there are many issues and solution in integration of the services that need to be tackled more conscientiously. The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the most important issues on integration of services and rail transit system in Malaysian and how to solve or reduce these problems and conflicts. In this paper, it consists of the historical development of rail transit construction in Malaysia. This paper also attempts to identify the important issues related to rail transit services and integration in Malaysian rural rail operation and management system. Comparison is also conducted with other countries such as UK, France, and Japan. Finally, a critical analysis is presented in this paper by looking at the possible application for future Malaysian rail transit operation system and management, especially focusing on enhancing the quality of Malaysian rural rail transit. In conclusion, this paper is expected to successfully review and appraise the existing Malaysian rural rail transit operation and management system pertaining to issues & solution in integration. It is also hoped that reformation or transformation of present service delivery quality of the rail transit operation and management will enable Malaysia to succeed in transforming Malaysian transportation system to greater heights.

  15. Propagation of a finite bubble in a Hele-Shaw channel of variable depth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Juel, Anne; Franco-Gomez, Andres; Thompson, Alice; Hazel, Andrew

    2017-11-01

    We study the propagation of finite bubbles in a Hele-Shaw channel, where a centred rail is introduced to provide a small axially-uniform depth constriction. We demonstrate experimentally that this channel geometry can be used as a passive sorting device. Single air bubbles carried within silicone oil are generally transported on one side of the rail. However, for flow rates marginally larger than a critical value, a narrow band of bubble sizes on the order of the rail width can propagate over the rail, while bubbles of other sizes segregate to the side of the rail. The width of this band of bubble sizes increases with flow rate and the size of the most stable bubble can be tuned by varying the rail width. We present a depth-averaged theory which reveals that the mechanism relies on a non-trivial interaction between capillary and viscous forces that is fully dynamic, rather than being a simple modification of capillary static solutions. In contrast, for larger bubbles and sufficiently large imposed flow rates, we find that initially centred bubbles do not converge onto a steady mode of propagation. Instead they transiently explore weakly unstable steady modes, an evolution which results in their break-up and eventual settling into a steady state of changed topology. The financial support of CONICYT and the Leverhulme Trust are gratefully acknowledged.

  16. Online Condition Monitoring of a Rail Fastening System on High-Speed Railways Based on Wavelet Packet Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Wei, Jiahong; Liu, Chong; Ren, Tongqun; Liu, Haixia; Zhou, Wenjing

    2017-01-01

    The rail fastening system is an important part of a high-speed railway track. It is always critical to the operational safety and comfort of railway vehicles. Therefore, the condition detection of the rail fastening system, looseness or absence, is an important task in railway maintenance. However, the vision-based method cannot identify the severity of rail fastener looseness. In this paper, the condition of rail fastening system is monitored based on an automatic and remote-sensing measurement system. Meanwhile, wavelet packet analysis is used to analyze the acceleration signals, based on which two damage indices are developed to locate the damage position and evaluate the severity of rail fasteners looseness, respectively. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, an experiment is performed on a high-speed railway experimental platform. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective to assess the condition of the rail fastening system. The monitoring system significantly reduces the inspection time and increases the efficiency of maintenance management. PMID:28208732

  17. In-Service Performance and Costs of Methods for Control of Urban Rail System Noise : Experimental Design

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1976-05-01

    This report presents an experimental design for a project to evaluate four techniques for reducing wheel-rail noise on urban rail transit systems: (a) resilient wheels, (b) damped wheels, (c) wheel truing, and (d) rail griding. The design presents th...

  18. Endangered species management and ecosystem restoration: Finding the common ground

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Casazza, Michael L.; Overton, Cory T.; Bui, Thuy-Vy D.; Hull, Joshua M.; Albertson, Joy D.; Bloom, Valary K.; Bobzien, Steven; McBroom, Jennifer; Latta, Marilyn; Olofson, Peggy; Rohmer, Tobias M.; Schwarzbach, Steven E.; Strong, Donald R.; Grijalva, Erik; Wood, Julian K.; Skalos, Shannon; Takekawa, John Y.

    2016-01-01

    Management actions to protect endangered species and conserve ecosystem function may not always be in precise alignment. Efforts to recover the California Ridgway’s Rail (Rallus obsoletus obsoletus; hereafter, California rail), a federally and state-listed species, and restoration of tidal marsh ecosystems in the San Francisco Bay estuary provide a prime example of habitat restoration that has conflicted with species conservation. On the brink of extinction from habitat loss and degradation, and non-native predators in the 1990s, California rail populations responded positively to introduction of a non-native plant, Atlantic cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora). California rail populations were in substantial decline when the non-native Spartina was initially introduced as part of efforts to recover tidal marshes. Subsequent hybridization with the native Pacific cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) boosted California rail populations by providing greater cover and increased habitat area. The hybrid cordgrass (S. alterniflora × S. foliosa) readily invaded tidal mudflats and channels, and both crowded out native tidal marsh plants and increased sediment accretion in the marsh plain. This resulted in modification of tidal marsh geomorphology, hydrology, productivity, and species composition. Our results show that denser California rail populations occur in invasive Spartina than in native Spartina in San Francisco Bay. Herbicide treatment between 2005 and 2012 removed invasive Spartina from open intertidal mud and preserved foraging habitat for shorebirds. However, removal of invasive Spartina caused substantial decreases in California rail populations. Unknown facets of California rail ecology, undesirable interim stages of tidal marsh restoration, and competing management objectives among stakeholders resulted in management planning for endangered species or ecosystem restoration that favored one goal over the other. We have examined this perceived conflict and propose strategies for moderating harmful effects of restoration while meeting the needs of both endangered species and the imperiled native marsh ecosystem.

  19. Fire Safety Countermeasures for Urban Rail Vehicles

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1992-07-01

    The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (VNTSC) has analyzed transit system fire statistics to learn how often fire and smoke incidents occur on rail transit systems. While the threat of fire accounts for only a small percentage of all rail ...

  20. 76 FR 75542 - Rail Splitter Wind Farm, LLC v. Ameren Services Company Midwest Independent Transmission, System...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-02

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. EL12-11-000] Rail Splitter Wind Farm, LLC v. Ameren Services Company Midwest Independent Transmission, System Operator, Inc...) Rules of Practice and Procedures, 18 CFR 385.206, Rail Splitter Wind Farm, LLC (Rail Splitter or...

  1. 77 FR 2077 - Intent To Request Renewal From OMB of One Current Public Collection of Information: Rail...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-01-13

    ... carriers, including each carrier operating light rail or heavy rail transit service on track that is part of the general railroad system of transportation and rail transit systems. Also, these persons are... any threat information. In addition, freight railroad carriers and the affected shippers and receivers...

  2. 77 FR 19680 - Extension of Agency Information Collection Activity Under OMB Review: Rail Transportation Security

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-02

    ... receivers of certain hazardous materials; and passenger railroad carriers, including each carrier operating light rail or heavy rail transit service on track that is part of the general railroad system of transportation and rail transit systems. Also, these persons are required to report significant security concerns...

  3. 78 FR 59316 - Rail Vehicles Access Advisory Committee Meetings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-26

    ...-0001] RIN 3014-AA42 Rail Vehicles Access Advisory Committee Meetings AGENCY: Architectural and... Vehicles Access Advisory Committee (Committee) will hold its first meeting. We, the Architectural and... transportation vehicles that operate on fixed guideway systems (e.g., rapid rail, light rail, commuter rail...

  4. Limitation to Communication of Fermionic System in Accelerated Frame

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chang, Jinho; Kwon, Younghun

    2015-03-01

    In this article, we investigate communication between an inertial observer and an accelerated observer, sharing fermionic system, when they use classical and quantum communication using single rail or dual rail encoding. The purpose of this work is to understand the limit to the communication between an inertial observer and an accelerated observer, with single rail or dual rail encoding of fermionic system. We observe that at the infinite acceleration, the coherent information of single(or double) rail quantum channel vanishes, but those of classical ones may have finite values. In addition, we see that even when considering a method beyond the single-mode approximation, for the communication between Alice and Bob, the dual rail entangled state seems to provide better information transfer than the single rail entangled state, when we take a fixed choice of the Unruh mode. Moreover, we find that the single-mode approximation may not be sufficient to analyze communication of fermionic system in an accelerated frame.

  5. 49 CFR 234.303 - Emergency notification systems for telephonic reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. 234.303 Section 234.303... at Highway-Rail and Pathway Grade Crossings § 234.303 Emergency notification systems for telephonic reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. (a) Duty of dispatching railroad...

  6. 49 CFR 234.303 - Emergency notification systems for telephonic reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. 234.303 Section 234.303... at Highway-Rail and Pathway Grade Crossings § 234.303 Emergency notification systems for telephonic reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. (a) Duty of dispatching railroad...

  7. 49 CFR 234.303 - Emergency notification systems for telephonic reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. 234.303 Section 234.303... at Highway-Rail and Pathway Grade Crossings § 234.303 Emergency notification systems for telephonic reporting of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. (a) Duty of dispatching railroad...

  8. 49 CFR 659.27 - Internal safety and security reviews.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RAIL FIXED GUIDEWAY SYSTEMS; STATE SAFETY OVERSIGHT Role of the..., indicating that the rail transit agency is in compliance with its system safety program plan and system... security reviews indicate that the rail transit agency is not in compliance with its system safety program...

  9. 49 CFR 1580.201 - Rail security coordinator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... system that is not operating on track that is part of the general railroad system of transportation... SECURITY Passenger Rail Including Passenger Railroad Carriers, Rail Transit Systems, Tourist, Scenic.... This section applies to: (1) Each passenger railroad carrier, including each carrier operating light...

  10. Concept of Integrated Information Systems of Rail Transport

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Siergiejczyk, Mirosław; Gago, Stanisław

    This paper will present a need to create integrated information systems of the rail transport and their links with other means of public transportation. IT standards will be discussed that are expected to create the integrated information systems of the rail transport. Also the main tasks will be presented of centralized information systems, the concept of their architecture, business processes and their implementation as well as the proposed measures to secure data. A method shall be proposed to implement a system to inform participants of rail transport in Polish conditions.

  11. 2000 Florida rail system plan

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-01-01

    The purpose of the Florida Rail System Plan is two-fold. First, it represents the rail : component of the Florida Transportation Plan (Agency Functional Plan) which, through an : annual series of policies, programs and projects, implements the Transp...

  12. A 3D Laser Profiling System for Rail Surface Defect Detection

    PubMed Central

    Li, Qingquan; Mao, Qingzhou; Zou, Qin

    2017-01-01

    Rail surface defects such as the abrasion, scratch and peeling often cause damages to the train wheels and rail bearings. An efficient and accurate detection of rail defects is of vital importance for the safety of railway transportation. In the past few decades, automatic rail defect detection has been studied; however, most developed methods use optic-imaging techniques to collect the rail surface data and are still suffering from a high false recognition rate. In this paper, a novel 3D laser profiling system (3D-LPS) is proposed, which integrates a laser scanner, odometer, inertial measurement unit (IMU) and global position system (GPS) to capture the rail surface profile data. For automatic defect detection, first, the deviation between the measured profile and a standard rail model profile is computed for each laser-imaging profile, and the points with large deviations are marked as candidate defect points. Specifically, an adaptive iterative closest point (AICP) algorithm is proposed to register the point sets of the measured profile with the standard rail model profile, and the registration precision is improved to the sub-millimeter level. Second, all of the measured profiles are combined together to form the rail surface through a high-precision positioning process with the IMU, odometer and GPS data. Third, the candidate defect points are merged into candidate defect regions using the K-means clustering. At last, the candidate defect regions are classified by a decision tree classifier. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed laser-profiling system in rail surface defect detection and classification. PMID:28777323

  13. Indiana rail plan

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-07-08

    The 2009 Indiana Rail Plan was developed as part of the Indiana Multimodal Freight and Mobility Plan to direct the State of Indianas future freight and passenger rail policy, provide a framework to guide future decisions regarding rail system inve...

  14. USDOT Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) Initiative Transit Data Gaps for Rail Transit Systems Initial Planning Workshop Notes

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-06-23

    This document presents the notes taken at the USDOT Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) Transit Data Gaps for Rail Transit Systems Initial Planning Workshop. Different scenarios for handling increased demand on rail and bus transit systems are discu...

  15. An automated system for rail transit infrastructure inspection.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-03-01

    This project applied commercial remote sensing and spatial information (CRS&SI) : technologies such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), laser, GIS, and GPS to passenger rail : inspections. An integrated rail inspection system that can be mounted on hi...

  16. Safety assessment of underground vehicles passing over highly resilient curved tracks in the presence of a broken rail

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suárez, B.; Rodriguez, P.; Vázquez, M.; Fernández, I.

    2012-01-01

    Vehicle-track interaction for a new resilient slab track designed to reduce noise and vibration levels was analysed, in order to assess the derailment risk on a curved track when encountering a broken rail. Sensitivity of the rail support spacing of the relative position of the rail breakage between two adjacent rail supports and of running speed were analysed for two different elasticities of the rail fastening system. In none of the cases analysed was observed an appreciable difference between either of the elastic systems. As was expected, the most unfavourable situations were those with greater rail support spacing and those with greater distance from the breakage to the nearest rail support, although in none of the simulations performed did a derailment occur when running over the broken rail. When varying the running speed, the most favourable condition was obtained for an intermediate speed, due to the superposition of two antagonistic effects.

  17. NCHRP report 350 test 3-11 of the modified T8 bridge rail.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-04-01

    A new flexible bridge rail system, referred to as the T8 rail, was designed as a replacement for the T6 rail in high-speed applications on culverts and thin deck structures. The T8 rail failed a crash test when the breakaway posts failed the thin dec...

  18. Review of Rail Behavior Under Wheel/Rail Impact Loading

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1986-04-01

    The report discusses several studies involving factors that significantly affect rail life, particularly wheel impact loads. Parameters that characterize the effect of wheel impact loads on rail behavior are examined in terms of system variables such...

  19. 49 CFR 37.51 - Key stations in commuter rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Key stations in commuter rail systems. 37.51 Section 37.51 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES (ADA) Transportation Facilities § 37.51 Key stations in commuter rail systems...

  20. An approach for actions to prevent suicides on commuter and metro rail systems in the United States.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-11-01

    The primary goals of this report are to discuss measures to prevent suicides on commuter and metro rail systems, and to outline : an approach for suicide prevention on rail systems. Based on existing literature and analysis of data obtained from the ...

  1. 49 CFR 212.231 - Highway-rail grade crossing inspector.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Control Devices; and (6) Knowledge of railroad signal systems sufficient to ensure that highway-rail grade... signal systems. (d) A State signal and train control inspector qualified under this part and who has... independent inspections of all types of highway-rail grade crossing warning systems for the purpose of...

  2. 49 CFR 212.231 - Highway-rail grade crossing inspector.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Control Devices; and (6) Knowledge of railroad signal systems sufficient to ensure that highway-rail grade... signal systems. (d) A State signal and train control inspector qualified under this part and who has... independent inspections of all types of highway-rail grade crossing warning systems for the purpose of...

  3. 76 FR 63714 - Big Spring Rail System, Inc.;Operation Exemption;Transport Handling Specialists, Inc.

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-10-13

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35553] Big Spring Rail System, Inc.;Operation Exemption;Transport Handling Specialists, Inc. Big Spring Rail System, Inc. (BSRS...., owned by the City of Big Spring, Tex. (City). BSRS will be operating the line for Transport Handling...

  4. Safer bridge railings, volume 1 summary report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1984-06-01

    This study consisted of strength analyses of five in-service bridge railing systems, thirty full-scale vehicle crash tests on those railing systems and on a load measuring wall, the development of recommended design guidelines and deve1opment of reco...

  5. Appraisal on Rail Transit Development: A Review on Train Services and Safety

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nordin, Noor Hafiza binti; Masirin, Mohd Idrus Haji Mohd; Ghazali, Mohd Imran bin; Azis, Mohd Isom bin

    2017-08-01

    The ever increasing problems faced by population around the world have made demands that transportation need to be improved as an effective and efficient communication means. It is considered as a necessity especially when rapid development and economic growth of a country is the agenda. Among the transportation modes being focused as critical facilities are the bus system, rail system, road network, shipping system and air transportation system. Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In Malaysia, the railway network has evolved tremendously since its inception in the early 19th century. It has grown proportionally with the national development. Railway network does not only mean for rural transportation, but it also considered as a solution to urban congestion challenges. Currently, urban rail transit is the most popular means of urban transportation system especially as big cities such as Kuala Lumpur. This paper presents the definition of rail transportation system and its role in urban or sub-urban operation. It also describes the brief history of world railway transportation including a discussion on Malaysian rail history perspective. As policy and standard are important in operating a railway system, this paper also illustrates and discusses some elements which have an impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of train operation. Towards the end, this paper also shares the importance of railway safety based on real case studies around the world. Thus, it is hoped that this paper will enable the public to understand the rail transit development and appreciate its existence as a public transportation system.

  6. A finite element study on rail corrugation based on saturated creep force-induced self-excited vibration of a wheelset-track system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, G. X.; Zhou, Z. R.; Ouyang, H.; Jin, X. S.; Zhu, M. H.; Liu, Q. Y.

    2010-10-01

    The present work proposes friction coupling at the wheel-rail interface as the mechanism for formation of rail corrugation. Stability of a wheelset-track system is studied using the finite element complex eigenvalue method. Two models for a wheelset-track system on a tight curved track and on a straight track are established. In these two models, motion of the wheelset is coupled with that of the rail by friction. Creep force at the interface is assumed to become saturated and approximately equal to friction force, which is equal to the normal contact force multiplied by dynamic coefficient of friction. The rail is supported by vertical and lateral springs and dampers at the positions of sleepers. Numerical results show that there is a strong propensity of self-excited vibration of the wheelset-track system when the friction coefficient is larger than 0.21. Some unstable frequencies fall in the range 60-1200 Hz, which correspond to frequencies of rail corrugation. Parameter sensitivity analysis shows that the dynamic coefficient of friction, spring stiffness and damping of the sleeper supports all have important influences on the rail corrugation formation. Bringing the friction coefficient below a certain level can suppress or eliminate rail corrugation.

  7. Prediction and Control of Rail Transit Noise and Vibration - A State-of-the-Art Assessment

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1974-04-01

    As systems manager for the Urban Mass Transportation Administration's Rail Supporting Technology Program, the Transportation Systems Center has undertaken research in rail transit noise abatement. As part of this effort, this report contains the resu...

  8. Real-time optimization of passenger collection for commuter rail systems.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-09-01

    Commuter rail systems are being introduced into many urban areas as an alternative mode to automobiles : for commuting trips. The shift from the auto mode to rail mode is anticipated to greatly help alleviate : traffic congestion in urban road networ...

  9. 49 CFR 37.75 - Remanufacture of non-rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by public entities operating fixed route systems. 37.75... operating fixed route systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a fixed route system.... (d) If a public entity operates a fixed route system, any segment of which is included on the...

  10. 49 CFR 37.75 - Remanufacture of non-rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by public entities operating fixed route systems. 37.75... operating fixed route systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a fixed route system.... (d) If a public entity operates a fixed route system, any segment of which is included on the...

  11. 49 CFR 37.75 - Remanufacture of non-rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by public entities operating fixed route systems. 37.75... operating fixed route systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a fixed route system.... (d) If a public entity operates a fixed route system, any segment of which is included on the...

  12. 49 CFR 37.75 - Remanufacture of non-rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by public entities operating fixed route systems. 37.75... operating fixed route systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a fixed route system.... (d) If a public entity operates a fixed route system, any segment of which is included on the...

  13. 49 CFR 37.75 - Remanufacture of non-rail vehicles and purchase or lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... lease of remanufactured non-rail vehicles by public entities operating fixed route systems. 37.75... operating fixed route systems. (a) This section applies to any public entity operating a fixed route system.... (d) If a public entity operates a fixed route system, any segment of which is included on the...

  14. The electric rail gun for space propulsion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bauer, D. P.; Barber, J. P.; Vahlberg, C. J.

    1981-01-01

    An analytic feasibility investigation of an electric propulsion concept for space application is described. In this concept, quasistatic thrust due to inertial reaction to repetitively accelerated pellets by an electric rail gun is used to propel a spacecraft. The study encompasses the major subsystems required in an electric rail gun propulsion system. The mass, performance, and configuration of each subsystem are described. Based on an analytic model of the system mass and performance, the electric rail gun mission performance as a reusable orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) is analyzed and compared to a 30 cm ion thruster system (BIMOD) and a chemical propulsion system (IUS) for payloads with masses of 1150 kg and 2300 kg. For system power levels in the range from 25 kW(e) to 100 kW(e) an electric rail gun OTV is more attractive than a BIMOD system for low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit transfer durations in the range from 20 to 120 days.

  15. Rail inspection system based on iGPS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Xiaoyan; Wang, Mulan; Wen, Xiuping

    2018-05-01

    Track parameters include gauge, super elevation, cross level and so on, which could be calculated through the three-dimensional coordinates of the track. The rail inspection system based on iGPS (indoor/infrared GPS) was composed of base station, receiver, rail inspection frame, wireless communication unit, display and control unit and data processing unit. With the continuous movement of the inspection frame, the system could accurately inspect the coordinates of rail; realize the intelligent detection and precision measurement. According to principle of angle intersection measurement, the inspection model was structured, and detection process was given.

  16. New Hampshire state rail plan 2001

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-04-01

    This report is the 2001 update to the New Hampshire Statewide Rail Plan, which was last updated in 1991 and amended in 1993. The Rail Plan presents an overview of the current status of the New Hampshire Rail System, who operates it and how it is util...

  17. Fast rail corrugation detection based on texture filtering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiao, Jie; Lu, Kaixia

    2018-02-01

    The condition detection of rails in high-speed railway is one of the important means to ensure the safety of railway transportation. In order to replace the traditional manual inspection, save manpower and material resources, and improve the detection speed and accuracy, it is of great significance to develop a machine vision system for locating and identifying defects on rails automatically. Rail defects exhibit different properties and are divided into various categories related to the type and position of flaws on the rail. Several kinds of interrelated factors cause rail defects such as type of rail, construction conditions, and speed and/or frequency of trains using the rail. Rail corrugation is a particular kind of defects that produce an undulatory deformation on the rail heads. In high speed train, the corrugation induces harmful vibrations on wheels and its components and reduces the lifetime of rails. This type of defects should be detected to avoid rail fractures. In this paper, a novel method for fast rail corrugation detection based on texture filtering was proposed.

  18. Influence of uneven rail irregularities on the dynamic response of the railway track using a three-dimensional model of the vehicle-track system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Naeimi, Meysam; Zakeri, Jabbar Ali; Esmaeili, Morteza; Shadfar, Morad

    2015-01-01

    A mathematical model of the vehicle-track interaction is developed to investigate the coupled behaviour of vehicle-track system, in the presence of uneven irregularities at left/right rails. The railway vehicle is simplified as a 3D multi-rigid-body model, and the track is treated as the two parallel beams on a layered discrete support system. Besides the car-body, the bogies and the wheel sets, the sleepers are assumed to have roll degree of freedom, in order to simulate the in-plane rotation of the components. The wheel-rail interface is treated using a nonlinear Hertzian contact model, coupling the mathematical equations of the vehicle-track systems. The dynamic interaction of the entire system is numerically studied in time domain, employing Newmark's integration method. The track irregularity spectra of both the left/right rails are taken into account, as the inputs of dynamic excitations. The dynamic responses of the track system induced by such irregularities are obtained, particularly in terms of the vertical (bounce) and roll displacements. The numerical model of the present research is validated using several benchmark models reported in the literature, for both the smooth and unsmooth track conditions. Four sample profiles of the measured rail irregularities are considered as the case studies of excitation sources, examining their influences on the dynamic behaviour of the coupled system. The results of numerical simulations demonstrate that the motion of track system is significantly influenced by the presence of uneven irregularities in left/right rails. Dynamic response of the sleepers in the roll direction becomes more sensitive to the rail irregularities, as the unevenness severity of the parallel profiles (quantitative difference between left and right rail spectra) is increased. The severe geometric deformation of the track in the bounce-pitch-roll directions is mainly related to such profile unevenness (cross-level) in left/right rails.

  19. Large scale implementation of guided wave based broken rail monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Burger, Francois A.; Loveday, Philip W.; Long, Craig S.

    2015-03-01

    A guided wave ultrasound system has been developed over the past 17 years to detect breaks in continuously welded rail track. Installation of the version 4 system on an 840 km long heavy duty freight line was conducted between January 2013 and June 2014. The system operates in pitch - catch mode with alternate transmit and receive transducers spaced approximately 1km apart. If the acoustic signal is not received at the receive station an alarm is triggered to indicate a break in the rail between the transmit station and the receive station. The system is permanently installed, powered by solar panels and issues broken rail alarms using the GSM network where available, and digital radio technology in other areas. A total of 931 stations were installed and the entire length of rail is interrogated every fifteen minutes. The system operates reliably although some problems involving unreliable GSM communication and theft of solar panels have been experienced. In the first two months of operation four broken rails were detected and train operation was halted temporarily for repairs.

  20. 76 FR 38457 - Petition for Waiver of Compliance

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-30

    ...) conducts freight operations on 23 miles of this 33-mile rail line; and presently the only common track use... modifications requested above would follow the existing protocols such as good communication between HVRM and... is under Yard Limit Rules with good visibility conditions. The new petition states that HVRM operates...

  1. High pressure common rail injection system modeling and control.

    PubMed

    Wang, H P; Zheng, D; Tian, Y

    2016-07-01

    In this paper modeling and common-rail pressure control of high pressure common rail injection system (HPCRIS) is presented. The proposed mathematical model of high pressure common rail injection system which contains three sub-systems: high pressure pump sub-model, common rail sub-model and injector sub-model is a relative complicated nonlinear system. The mathematical model is validated by the software Matlab and a virtual detailed simulation environment. For the considered HPCRIS, an effective model free controller which is called Extended State Observer - based intelligent Proportional Integral (ESO-based iPI) controller is designed. And this proposed method is composed mainly of the referred ESO observer, and a time delay estimation based iPI controller. Finally, to demonstrate the performances of the proposed controller, the proposed ESO-based iPI controller is compared with a conventional PID controller and ADRC. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Transfer system

    DOEpatents

    Kurosawa, Kanji; Koga, Bunichiro; Ito, Hideki; Kiriyama, Shigeru; Higuchi, Shizuo

    2003-05-20

    A transport system includes a traveling rail (1) which constitutes a transport route and a transport body (3) which is capable of traveling on the traveling rail in the longitudinal direction of the traveling rail. Flexible drive tubes (5) are arranged on the traveling rail in the longitudinal direction of the traveling rail. The transport body includes a traveling wheel (4) which is capable of rolling on the traveling rail and drive wheels (2) which are capable of rolling on the drive tubes upon receiving the rotational drive power generated by pressure of a pressure medium supplied to the drive tubes while depressing the drive tubes. The traveling rail includes a plurality of transport sections and the transport body is capable of receiving a rotational drive force from the drive tubes at every transport sections. If necessary, a transport route changeover switch which changes over the transport route can be provided between the transport sections.

  3. 75 FR 7426 - Periodic Reporting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-19

    ... change in transportation cost system sampling. The proposal involves distributing rail costs using inter...) sampling, and proposes instead to distribute rail costs using the Inter-BC highway distribution factors. \\1... rail sampling, and to use the TRACS inter-BMC distribtion in place of the Rail distribution key in Cost...

  4. Intelligent transportation systems at highway-rail intersections : a cross-cutting study : improving safety and mobility at highway-rail grade crossings

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-12-01

    In 1997, the ITS Joint Program Office (JPO) at the Federal Highway Administration commissioned a study to identify projects being conducted in the U.S. that used Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) at highway-rail grade crossings, including not ...

  5. DYNALIST II : A Computer Program for Stability and Dynamic Response Analysis of Rail Vehicle Systems : Volume 2. User's Manual.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1975-02-01

    A methodology and a computer program, DYNALIST II, have been developed for computing the response of rail vehicle systems to sinusoidal or stationary random rail irregularities. The computer program represents an extension of the earlier DYNALIST pro...

  6. 49 CFR 1580.201 - Rail security coordinator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... and alternate(s) must be appointed at the corporate level. (d) Each passenger railroad carrier and rail transit system required to have an RSC must provide to TSA the names, titles, phone number(s), and... any of this information changes. (e) Each passenger railroad carrier and rail transit system required...

  7. 49 CFR 1580.201 - Rail security coordinator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... and alternate(s) must be appointed at the corporate level. (d) Each passenger railroad carrier and rail transit system required to have an RSC must provide to TSA the names, titles, phone number(s), and... any of this information changes. (e) Each passenger railroad carrier and rail transit system required...

  8. DYNALIST II : A Computer Program for Stability and Dynamic Response Analysis of Rail Vehicle Systems : Volume 1. Technical Report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1975-02-01

    A methodology and a computer program, DYNALIST II, have been developed for computing the response of rail vehicle systems to sinusoidal or stationary random rail irregularities. The computer program represents an extension of the earlier DYNALIST pro...

  9. Intercity passenger rail : the congress faces critical decisions about the role of and funding for intercity passenger rail systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-07-25

    With the growth in the nation's highway and aviation systems in the : previous decades, intercity passenger rail service lost its competitive edge. Highways have enabled cars to be competitive with conventional passenger trains (those operating up to...

  10. Evaluation of intrusion detection technologies for high speed rail grade crossings : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-12-01

    The rail industry is in the process of developing a prototype system for high speed rail. One of the concerns when using high speed rail is the danger of obstructions on the track. This level of danger is much higher than with traditional railway veh...

  11. 78 FR 36823 - California High-Speed Rail Authority-Construction Exemption-in Merced, Madera and Fresno Counties...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-19

    ...-Speed Rail Authority--Construction Exemption--in Merced, Madera and Fresno Counties, Cal AGENCY: Surface...-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) to construct an approximately 65- mile high-speed passenger rail line... statewide California High-Speed Train System. This exemption is subject to environmental mitigation...

  12. 49 CFR 1.88 - The Federal Railroad Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ...) Promoting and strengthening the national rail system, including freight rail and high speed and higher... rail projects through the enforcement of Buy America provisions; and (h) Strengthening local...

  13. 49 CFR 1.88 - The Federal Railroad Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ...) Promoting and strengthening the national rail system, including freight rail and high speed and higher... rail projects through the enforcement of Buy America provisions; and (h) Strengthening local...

  14. 49 CFR 1.88 - The Federal Railroad Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ...) Promoting and strengthening the national rail system, including freight rail and high speed and higher... rail projects through the enforcement of Buy America provisions; and (h) Strengthening local...

  15. Railing systems for use on timber deck bridges

    Treesearch

    Ronald K. Faller; Michael A. Ritter; Barry T. Rosson; Sheila R. Duwadi

    1999-01-01

    Bridge railing systems in the United States have historically been designed based on static load criteria given in the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges. In the past decade, full-scale vehicle crash testing has been recognized as a more appropriate and reliable method of evaluating bridge railing acceptability. In 1989. AASHTO published the Guide...

  16. MASH TL-3 crash testing and evaluation of the TxDOT T631 Bridge Rail.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-07-01

    The Texas Type T631 bridge rail was developed as a low-cost, flexible bridge rail system for TL-2 : applications. Many of the features used for the system tested at MwRSF for TL-3 were incorporated into the : design developed for this project for MAS...

  17. 49 CFR 37.47 - Key stations in light and rapid rail systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Key stations in light and rapid rail systems. 37.47 Section 37.47 Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES (ADA) Transportation Facilities § 37.47 Key stations in light and rapid rail...

  18. Railroad system of Texas: A component of the state and national transportation infrastructure. Research report, September 1996--November 1998

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Roop, S.S.; Warner, J.E.; Rosa, D.

    1998-11-01

    Railroads continue to play an important role in the Texas transportation system. This study addresses the potential for implementing a rail planning process in the Texas Department of Transportation. The study is documented in three reports, produced in coordinated and parallel efforts by the Center for Transportation Research and the Texas Transportation Institute. This report documents the work performed by TTI, whereby a rail planning framework is presented which formalizes the planning process and presents the key elements as a series of discrete and logical steps. These steps may be used to guide TxDOT in the formation of goals, identificationmore » of issues and affected parties, selection of appropriate analytical methodologies, location of data sources, and implementation of results. The report also presents an in-depth discussion of several key issues facing transportation agencies. These include rail line abandonment, intermodal service planning, and urban rail rationalization. A discussion of the Texas rail system covers the Class 1 railroads, shortline railroads, Amtrak, and the Mexican rail system.« less

  19. Long range guided wave defect monitoring in rail track

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Loveday, Philip W.; Long, Craig S.

    2014-02-01

    A guided wave ultrasound system was previously developed for monitoring rail track used on heavy duty freight lines. This system operates by transmitting guided waves between permanently installed transmit and receive transducers spaced approximately 1km apart. The system has been proven to reliably detect rail breaks without false alarms. While cracks are sometimes detected there is a trade - off between detecting cracks and the possibility of false alarms. Adding a pulse-echo mode of operation to the system could provide increased functionality by detecting, locating and possibly monitoring cracks. This would require an array of transducers to control the direction and mode of propagation and it would be necessary to detect cracks up to a range of approximately 500 m in either direction along the rail. A four transducer array was designed and full matrix capture was used for field measurements. Post processing of the signals showed that a thermite weld could be detected at a range of 790m from the transducer array. It was concluded that the required range can be achieved in new rail while it would be extremely difficult in very old rail.

  20. Material Evaluation of an Elastomer, Epoxy and Lightweight Concrete Rail Attachment System for Direct Fixation Light Rail Applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Swarner, Benjamin R.

    Sound Transit plans to extend its current light rail system, which runs along the I-5 corridor in Seattle, Washington, across the I-90 Homer Hadley floating bridge as part of a project to connect the major city centers in the region. But, no light rail has ever crossed a floating bridge due to several unique engineering challenges. One of these challenges is attaching the rails to the existing bridge deck without drilling into the bridge pontoons. This research program was developed to test and analyze a direct fixation method that uses lightweight concrete plinths and an elastomer-epoxy system to attach the rails to the bridge deck. The elastomer used was a two-part, pourable elastomer with cork particles intermixed to alter the mechanical properties of the material. A lightweight concrete mixture was analyzed for use in the plinths, and system tests investigated the system response under tensile, compressive and shear loading. The shear response of the system was examined further under varying loading conditions including different surface preparations, elastomer thicknesses, strain-rates and after freeze-thaw conditioning. Experimental data was examined for trends based on these parameters to best characterize the system, and the elastomer was evaluated in the context of modern elastomer research.

  1. Rail Brake System Using a Linear Induction Motor for Dynamic Braking

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sakamoto, Yasuaki; Kashiwagi, Takayuki; Tanaka, Minoru; Hasegawa, Hitoshi; Sasakawa, Takashi; Fujii, Nobuo

    One type of braking system for railway vehicles is the eddy current brake. Because this type of brake has the problem of rail heating, it has not been used for practical applications in Japan. Therefore, we proposed the use of a linear induction motor (LIM) for dynamic braking in eddy current brake systems. The LIM reduces rail heating and uses an inverter for self excitation. In this paper, we estimated the performance of an LIM from experimental results of a fundamental test machine and confirmed that the LIM generates an approximately constant braking force under constant current excitation. At relatively low frequencies, this braking force remains unaffected by frequency changes. The reduction ratio of rail heating is also approximately proportional to the frequency. We also confirmed that dynamic braking resulting in no electrical output can be used for drive control of the LIM. These characteristics are convenient for the realization of the LIM rail brake system.

  2. 49 U.S.C. 22705 - Content

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    ... 49 U.S.C. United States Code, 2009 Edition Title 49 - TRANSPORTATION SUBTITLE V - RAIL PROGRAMS PART B - ASSISTANCE CHAPTER 227 - STATE RAIL PLANS Sec. 22705 - Content §22705. Content (a) In General .—Each State rail plan shall, at a minimum, contain the following: (1) An inventory of the existing overall rail transportation system an...

  3. 49 U.S.C. 22705 - Content

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    ... 49 U.S.C. United States Code, 2011 Edition Title 49 - TRANSPORTATION SUBTITLE V - RAIL PROGRAMS PART B - ASSISTANCE CHAPTER 227 - STATE RAIL PLANS Sec. 22705 - Content §22705. Content (a) In General .—Each State rail plan shall, at a minimum, contain the following: (1) An inventory of the existing overall rail transportation system an...

  4. 49 U.S.C. 22705 - Content

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    ... 49 U.S.C. United States Code, 2014 Edition Title 49 - TRANSPORTATION SUBTITLE V - RAIL PROGRAMS PART B - ASSISTANCE CHAPTER 227 - STATE RAIL PLANS Sec. 22705 - Content §22705. Content (a) In General .—Each State rail plan shall, at a minimum, contain the following: (1) An inventory of the existing overall rail transportation system an...

  5. A hybrid multi-objective imperialist competitive algorithm and Monte Carlo method for robust safety design of a rail vehicle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nejlaoui, Mohamed; Houidi, Ajmi; Affi, Zouhaier; Romdhane, Lotfi

    2017-10-01

    This paper deals with the robust safety design optimization of a rail vehicle system moving in short radius curved tracks. A combined multi-objective imperialist competitive algorithm and Monte Carlo method is developed and used for the robust multi-objective optimization of the rail vehicle system. This robust optimization of rail vehicle safety considers simultaneously the derailment angle and its standard deviation where the design parameters uncertainties are considered. The obtained results showed that the robust design reduces significantly the sensitivity of the rail vehicle safety to the design parameters uncertainties compared to the determinist one and to the literature results.

  6. Evaluating the attractiveness of a new light rail extension: Testing simple change and displacement change hypotheses

    PubMed Central

    Brown, Barbara B.; Tribby, Calvin P.; Tharp, Doug; Flick, Kristi; Miller, Harvey J.; Smith, Ken R.; Jensen, Wyatt

    2015-01-01

    Many communities in the United States have been adding new light rail to bus-predominant public transit systems. However, there is disagreement as to whether opening light rail lines attracts new ridership or merely draws ridership from existing transit users. We study a new light rail line in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, which is part of a complete street redevelopment. We utilize a pre-test post-test control group quasi-experimental design to test two different measures of ridership change. The first measure is calculated from stops along the light rail route; the second assumes that nearby bus stops might be displaced by the rail and calculates ridership change with those stops included as baseline. Both the simple measure (transit use changes on the complete street light rail corridor) and the “displacement” measure (transit use changes in the one-quarter mile catchment areas around new light rail stops) showed significant (p < .01) and substantial (677%) increases in transit passengers compared to pre-light rail bus users. In particular, the displacement analysis discredits a common challenge that when a new light rail line opens, most passengers are simply former bus riders whose routes were canceled in favor of light rail. The study suggests that light rail services can attract additional ridership to public transit systems. In addition, although pre-post control-group designs require time and effort, this project underscores the benefits of such quasi-experimental designs in terms of the strength of the inferences that can be drawn about the impacts of new transit infrastructure and services. PMID:26543329

  7. Evaluating the attractiveness of a new light rail extension: Testing simple change and displacement change hypotheses.

    PubMed

    Werner, Carol M; Brown, Barbara B; Tribby, Calvin P; Tharp, Doug; Flick, Kristi; Miller, Harvey J; Smith, Ken R; Jensen, Wyatt

    2016-01-01

    Many communities in the United States have been adding new light rail to bus-predominant public transit systems. However, there is disagreement as to whether opening light rail lines attracts new ridership or merely draws ridership from existing transit users. We study a new light rail line in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, which is part of a complete street redevelopment. We utilize a pre-test post-test control group quasi-experimental design to test two different measures of ridership change. The first measure is calculated from stops along the light rail route; the second assumes that nearby bus stops might be displaced by the rail and calculates ridership change with those stops included as baseline. Both the simple measure (transit use changes on the complete street light rail corridor) and the "displacement" measure (transit use changes in the one-quarter mile catchment areas around new light rail stops) showed significant ( p < .01) and substantial (677%) increases in transit passengers compared to pre-light rail bus users. In particular, the displacement analysis discredits a common challenge that when a new light rail line opens, most passengers are simply former bus riders whose routes were canceled in favor of light rail. The study suggests that light rail services can attract additional ridership to public transit systems. In addition, although pre-post control-group designs require time and effort, this project underscores the benefits of such quasi-experimental designs in terms of the strength of the inferences that can be drawn about the impacts of new transit infrastructure and services.

  8. Mobile 3D laser scanning technology application in the surveying of urban underground rail transit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Han, Youmei; Yang, Bogang; Zhen, Yinan

    2016-11-01

    Mobile 3D laser scanning technology is one hot kind of digital earth technology. 3D completion surveying is relative new concept in surveying and mapping. A kind of mobile 3D laser scanning system was developed for the urban underground rail 3D completion surveying. According to the characteristics of underground rail environment and the characters of the mobile laser scanning system, it designed a suitable test scheme to improving the accuracy of this kind of mobile laser scanning system when it worked under no GPS signal environment. Then it completed the application of this technology in the No.15 rail 3D completion surveying. Meanwhile a set of production process was made for the 3D completion surveying based on this kind of mobile 3D laser scanning technology. These products were also proved the efficiency of the new technology in the rail 3D completion surveying. Using mobile 3D laser scanning technology to complete underground rail completion surveying has been the first time in China until now. It can provide a reference for 3D measurement of rail completion surveying or the 3D completion surveying of other areas.

  9. 49 CFR 214.525 - Towing with on-track roadway maintenance machines or hi-rail vehicles.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... towing would cause the machine or hi-rail vehicle to exceed the capabilities of its braking system. In determining the limit of the braking system, the employer must consider the track grade (slope), as well as... or hi-rail vehicles. 214.525 Section 214.525 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to...

  10. Rail security : some actions taken to enhance passenger and freight rail security, but significant challenges remain : testimony before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2004-03-23

    Passenger and freight rail services are important links in the nation's transportation system. Terrorist attacks on passenger and/or freight rail services have the potential to cause widespread injury, loss of life, and economic disruption. The recen...

  11. ADA final rule : rail system accessibility

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-07-31

    This document evaluates the benefits, costs, and other impacts of a DOT rulemaking related to : the accessibility of commuter rail transportation and intercity passenger rail service. In keeping with Executive Order 12866, Executive Order 13563, and ...

  12. Bibliography on Rail Technology

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1977-03-01

    This rail technology review provides assistance to a number of rail technology programs initiated by the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The results of a search and review in four specific areas in t...

  13. Phase I development of an aesthetic, precast concrete bridge rail.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-02-01

    Precast concrete bridge rail systems offer several advantages over traditional cast-in-place rail designs, including reduced construction : time and costs, installation in a wide range of environmental conditions, easier maintenance and repair, impro...

  14. Radial arm strike rail

    DOEpatents

    McKeown, Mark H.; Beason, Steven C.

    1991-01-01

    The radial arm strike rail assembly is a system for measurement of bearings, directions, and stereophotography for geologic mapping, particularly where magnetic compasses are not appropriate. The radial arm, pivoting around a shaft axis, provides a reference direction determination for geologic mapping and bearing or direction determination. The centerable and levelable pedestal provide a base for the radial arm strike rail and the telescoping camera pedestal. The telescoping feature of the radial arm strike rail allows positioning the end of the rail for strike direction or bearing measurement with a goniometer.

  15. Rail Transit System Cost Study

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1977-01-01

    The Transportation Systems Center serves as Systems Manager for the Rail Supporting Technology Program of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration. One task under this program has been to assess the cost of constructing, operating and maintaining...

  16. 2009 Iowa railroad system plan.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    The 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan is intended to guide the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in its activities of promoting access to rail transportation, helping to improve the freight railroad transportation system, expanding passenger rail ...

  17. Washington state short line rail inventory and needs assessment.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-06-01

    The recently completed State Rail Plan for the state of Washington identified several key issues facing the states : rail system. Among these key issues are abandonment, port access and competitive needs of the ports and local : production regions...

  18. Rail Base Corrosion and Cracking Prevention: Phase 2

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2018-04-09

    EWI was engaged by the Federal Railroad Administration to research rail treatments to prevent rail base corrosion in corrosive environments. A coating system was selected in Phase 1 and recommended for field trials. In Phase 2, four railroads sponsor...

  19. Rail Modernization Study

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1987-04-01

    This study summarizes the results of a multi-year assessment of the rail transit and commuter rail systems. The work was based on an earlier study design effort. The purposes of the study were to determine the costs of upgrading and modernizing urban...

  20. Southeast Rail Operations (SEROps) : Phase I : Summary Report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-05-01

    This Summary Report documents the first phase of the SEROps study. Phase I investigated the regional rail transportation network in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina as a system, and it engaged a diverse group of rail stakeholders ...

  1. 2009 Iowa railroad system plan : cover.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    The 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan is intended to guide the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in its activities of promoting access to rail transportation, helping to improve the freight railroad transportation system, expanding passenger rail ...

  2. 2009 Iowa railroad system plan : part I.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    The 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan is intended to guide the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in its activities of promoting access to rail transportation, helping to improve the freight railroad transportation system, expanding passenger rail ...

  3. 2009 Iowa railroad system plan : part III.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    The 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan is intended to guide the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in its activities of promoting access to rail transportation, helping to improve the freight railroad transportation system, expanding passenger rail ...

  4. 2009 Iowa railroad system plan : part II.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    The 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan is intended to guide the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in its activities of promoting access to rail transportation, helping to improve the freight railroad transportation system, expanding passenger rail ...

  5. 2009 Iowa railroad system plan : introduction.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    The 2009 Iowa Railroad System Plan is intended to guide the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in its activities of promoting access to rail transportation, helping to improve the freight railroad transportation system, expanding passenger rail ...

  6. Vibro-Acoustic Forecasts for STS (Space Transportation System) Launches at V23, Vandenberg AFB: Results Summary and the Payload Preparation Room

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-05-08

    Displacement Time Series Forecasts for Channels 2 Through 8 and (b) Channels 9 Through 16 33 17. Sample PSD Plots for ( a ) Levels 99 and 119 East Cell Rail...for Sensors at ( a ) Levels 99 and 119 on the West Cell Rail, (b) Level 69 on the East and West Cell Rail Footings, and (c) Level 99 on the West Cell Rail...17. Sample PSD Plots for ( a ) Levels 99 and 119 East Cell Rail Locations, (b) level 69 Sensors on the East and West Cell Rail Footings, and (c) Level

  7. Radar analysis of free oscillations of rail for diagnostics defects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shaydurov, G. Y.; Kudinov, D. S.; Kokhonkova, E. A.; Potylitsyn, V. S.

    2018-05-01

    One of the tasks of developing and implementing defectoscopy devices is the minimal influence of the human factor in their exploitation. At present, rail inspection systems do not have sufficient depth of rail research, and ultrasonic diagnostics systems need to contact the sensor with the surface being studied, which leads to low productivity. The article gives a comparative analysis of existing noncontact methods of flaw detection, offers a contactless method of diagnostics by excitation of acoustic waves and extraction of information about defects from the frequency of free rail oscillations using the radar method.

  8. Vermont rail capital investment policy plan : executive summary

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-10-01

    The Vermont Agency of Transportation has prepared a Rail Capital Investment Policy Plan (RCIPP) for the purpose of providing guidance for the functioning of Vermont's rail System. The report represents the culmination of eight months of work by the s...

  9. Rail commuter vehicle curving performance

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-04-01

    This report presents results of a program to design and install a wayside wheel-rail force measurement system. The test site is capable of developing a set of measurements of lateral and vertical forces exerted between the wheel and the rail at caref...

  10. Causal analysis of passenger train accidents on freight rail corridors.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-11-01

    A number of economic, technical and political factors have limited the development of new, dedicated, very-high-speed rail systems in North America. Consequently, most, near-term development of improved or expanded passenger rail service in the U.S. ...

  11. Light rail transit : state-of-the-art overview

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1977-05-01

    This document presents an overview of light rail transit, an urban transit alternative which has the potential to help fill the need for flexibility in public transportation. Existing and proposed U.S. and Canadian light rail transit systems are desc...

  12. Comprehensive and Highly Accurate Measurements of Crane Runways, Profiles and Fastenings

    PubMed Central

    Dennig, Dirk; Bureick, Johannes; Link, Johannes; Diener, Dmitri; Hesse, Christian; Neumann, Ingo

    2017-01-01

    The process of surveying crane runways has been continually refined due to the competitive situation, modern surveying instruments, additional sensors, accessories and evaluation procedures. Guidelines, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 12488-1, define target values that must be determined by survey. For a crane runway these are for example the span, the position and height of the rails. The process has to be objective and reproducible. However, common processes of surveying crane runways do not meet these requirements sufficiently. The evaluation of the protocols, ideally by an expert, requires many years of experience. Additionally, the recording of crucial parameters, e.g., the wear of the rail, or the condition of the rail fastening and rail joints, is not regulated and for that reason are often not considered during the measurement. To solve this deficit the Advanced Rail Track Inspection System (ARTIS) was developed. ARTIS is used to measure the 3D position of crane rails, the cross-section of the crane rails, joints and, for the first time, the (crane-rail) fastenings. The system consists of a monitoring vehicle and an external tracking sensor. It makes kinematic observations with the tracking sensor from outside the rail run, e.g., the floor of an overhead crane runway, possible. In this paper we present stages of the development process of ARTIS, new target values, calibration of sensors and results of a test measurement. PMID:28505076

  13. Public transit research: Rail, bus, and new technology, 1991. Transportation Research Record

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kassabian, N.C.; Tobias, A.G.; Crayton, L.

    1991-01-01

    The report contains: Image of Rail Transit; Train Operations Computer Simulation Case Study: Single-Tracking Operations for Philadelphia's Market-Frankford Subway Elevated Rail Rapid Transit Line; Transit Railcar Quantities: Scale Economies; Evaluation of Training Programs in Rail Transit: Its Role and Status; Methodology for Evaluating Out-of-Direction Bus Route Segments; Integration of Fixed- and Flexible-Route Bus Systems; Downtown Space for Buses--The Manhattan Experience; Implications of Transit Drug Testing and Maintenance Service Procurement for Small Urban and Rural Systems; Challenges for Integration of Alternative Fuels in the Transit Industry; Short History of the Transbay Transit Terminal and the Relocation of the San Francisco Greyhoundmore » Depot Thereto; Airport Development with Automated People Mover Systems; Review of Four Alternative Airport Terminal Passenger Mobility Systems.« less

  14. Study of smoke detection and fire extinguishment for rail transit vehicles.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-08-31

    This document presents the results of a study to determine the feasibility and cost effectiveness of the use of heat/smoke/fire sensors and automatic extinguishing systems in rail transit vehicles. Work presented includes: a survey of major rail tran...

  15. UCSD/FRA non-contact ultrasonic guided-wave system for rail inspection: an update

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coccia, Stefano; Phillips, Robert; Nucera, Claudio; Bartoli, Ivan; Salamone, Salvatore; Lanza di Scalea, Francesco; Fateh, Mahmood; Carr, Gary

    2011-04-01

    The University of California at San Diego (UCSD), under a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Research and Development (R&D) grant, is developing a system for high-speed and non-contact rail defect detection. A prototype has been designed and field tested with the support of Volpe National Transportation Systems Center and ENSCO, Inc. The goal of this project is to develop a rail defect detection system that provides (a) better defect detection reliability (including internal transverse head defects under shelling and vertical split head defects), and (b) higher inspection speed than achievable by current rail inspection systems. This effort is also in direct response to Safety Recommendations issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) following the disastrous train derailments at Superior, WI in 1992 and Oneida, NY in 2007 among others. The UCSD prototype uses non-contact ultrasonic probing of the rail head (laser and air-coupled), ultrasonic guided waves, and a proprietary real-time statistical analysis algorithm that maximizes the sensitivity to defects while minimizing false positives. The current design allows potential inspection speeds up to 40 mph, although all field tests have been conducted up to 15 mph so far. This paper summarizes (a) the latest technology development test conducted at the rail defect farm of Herzog, Inc. in St Joseph, MO in June 2010, and (b) the completion of the new Rail Defect Farm facility at the UCSD Camp Elliott Field Station with partial in-kind donations from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway.

  16. System and prospects of China's intercity rail transit technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gong, Ming

    2018-06-01

    City clusters and metropolitan areas in China are flourishing in the midst of the deepening urbanization in the country, thereby resulting in the emergence of intercity rail transit. Intercity railways connect mainline and urban railways for an integrated regional transportation system that underpins and leads the development of city clusters and metropolitan areas. This study explores the development mode and service characteristics of intercity rail transit, as well as proposes overviews on this system and prospects of its future technology in China.

  17. Optimal Placement Method of RFID Readers in Industrial Rail Transport for Uneven Rail Traflc Volume Management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rakhmangulov, Aleksandr; Muravev, Dmitri; Mishkurov, Pavel

    2016-11-01

    The issue of operative data reception on location and movement of railcars is significant the constantly growing requirements of the provision of timely and safe transportation. The technical solution for efficiency improvement of data collection on rail rolling stock is the implementation of an identification system. Nowadays, there are several such systems, distinguished in working principle. In the authors' opinion, the most promising for rail transportation is the RFID technology, proposing the equipping of the railway tracks by the stationary points of data reading (RFID readers) from the onboard sensors on the railcars. However, regardless of a specific type and manufacturer of these systems, their implementation is affiliated with the significant financing costs for large, industrial, rail transport systems, owning the extensive network of special railway tracks with a large number of stations and loading areas. To reduce the investment costs for creation, the identification system of rolling stock on the special railway tracks of industrial enterprises has developed the method based on the idea of priority installation of the RFID readers on railway hauls, where rail traffic volumes are uneven in structure and power, parameters of which is difficult or impossible to predict on the basis of existing data in an information system. To select the optimal locations of RFID readers, the mathematical model of the staged installation of such readers has developed depending on the non-uniformity value of rail traffic volumes, passing through the specific railway hauls. As a result of that approach, installation of the numerous RFID readers at all station tracks and loading areas of industrial railway stations might be not necessary,which reduces the total cost of the rolling stock identification and the implementation of the method for optimal management of transportation process.

  18. Passenger rail security, planning, and resilience: application of network, plume, and economic simulation models as decision support tools.

    PubMed

    Greenberg, Michael; Lioy, Paul; Ozbas, Birnur; Mantell, Nancy; Isukapalli, Sastry; Lahr, Michael; Altiok, Tayfur; Bober, Joseph; Lacy, Clifton; Lowrie, Karen; Mayer, Henry; Rovito, Jennifer

    2013-11-01

    We built three simulation models that can assist rail transit planners and operators to evaluate high and low probability rail-centered hazard events that could lead to serious consequences for rail-centered networks and their surrounding regions. Our key objective is to provide these models to users who, through planning with these models, can prevent events or more effectively react to them. The first of the three models is an industrial systems simulation tool that closely replicates rail passenger traffic flows between New York Penn Station and Trenton, New Jersey. Second, we built and used a line source plume model to trace chemical plumes released by a slow-moving freight train that could impact rail passengers, as well as people in surrounding areas. Third, we crafted an economic simulation model that estimates the regional economic consequences of a variety of rail-related hazard events through the year 2020. Each model can work independently of the others. However, used together they help provide a coherent story about what could happen and set the stage for planning that should make rail-centered transport systems more resistant and resilient to hazard events. We highlight the limitations and opportunities presented by using these models individually or in sequence. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

  19. Passenger Rail Security, Planning, and Resilience: Application of Network, Plume, and Economic Simulation Models as Decision Support Tools

    PubMed Central

    Greenberg, Michael; Lioy, Paul; Ozbas, Birnur; Mantell, Nancy; Isukapalli, Sastry; Lahr, Michael; Altiok, Tayfur; Bober, Joseph; Lacy, Clifton; Lowrie, Karen; Mayer, Henry; Rovito, Jennifer

    2014-01-01

    We built three simulation models that can assist rail transit planners and operators to evaluate high and low probability rail-centered hazard events that could lead to serious consequences for rail-centered networks and their surrounding regions. Our key objective is to provide these models to users who, through planning with these models, can prevent events or more effectively react to them. The first of the three models is an industrial systems simulation tool that closely replicates rail passenger traffic flows between New York Penn Station and Trenton, New Jersey. Second, we built and used a line source plume model to trace chemical plumes released by a slow-moving freight train that could impact rail passengers, as well as people in surrounding areas. Third, we crafted an economic simulation model that estimates the regional economic consequences of a variety of rail-related hazard events through the year 2020. Each model can work independently of the others. However, used together they help provide a coherent story about what could happen and set the stage for planning that should make rail-centered transport systems more resistant and resilient to hazard events. We highlight the limitations and opportunities presented by using these models individually or in sequence. PMID:23718133

  20. Gage restraint measurement system comparison tests : railbound and hi-rail vehicles

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-12-01

    Comparative tests were conducted to evaluate the gage restraint measurement system (GRMS) testing capabilities of a railbound GRMS vehicle, Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA's) T-6, and a hi-rail vehicle, Holland Company's TrackStar GRMS system....

  1. Field homogeneity improvement of maglev NdFeB magnetic rails from joints.

    PubMed

    Li, Y J; Dai, Q; Deng, C Y; Sun, R X; Zheng, J; Chen, Z; Sun, Y; Wang, H; Yuan, Z D; Fang, C; Deng, Z G

    2016-01-01

    An ideal magnetic rail should provide a homogeneous magnetic field along the longitudinal direction to guarantee the reliable friction-free operation of high temperature superconducting (HTS) maglev vehicles. But in reality, magnetic field inhomogeneity may occur due to lots of reasons; the joint gap is the most direct one. Joint gaps inevitably exist between adjacent segments and influence the longitudinal magnetic field homogeneity above the rail since any magnetic rails are consisting of many permanent magnet segments. To improve the running performance of maglev systems, two new rail joints are proposed based on the normal rail joint, which are named as mitered rail joint and overlapped rail joint. It is found that the overlapped rail joint has a better effect to provide a competitive homogeneous magnetic field. And the further structure optimization has been done to ensure maglev vehicle operation as stable as possible when passing through those joint gaps. The results show that the overlapped rail joint with optimal parameters can significantly reduce the magnetic field inhomogeneity comparing with the other two rail joints. In addition, an appropriate gap was suggested when balancing the thermal expansion of magnets and homogenous magnetic field, which is considered valuable references for the future design of the magnetic rails.

  2. High-Speed Rail and Local Land Development : Case Studies in London and Las Vegas

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-11-01

    The efficacy of a high-speed rail system depends, in part, upon locating rail stations close to urban centers and integrating them into broader transportation networks and the urban realm. In addition, through economies of agglomeration, successful h...

  3. A joint strategy for European rail research 2020 : towards a single European railway system

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-09-01

    Innovating and harmonising products and technologies are a necessity for the rail market to deploy all its potential, and for its stakeholders to deliver cost-effective services for intermediate and final clients. Rail transport in Europe is a future...

  4. Measurement of Wheel/Rail Forces at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Volume II. Test Report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-07-01

    Measurements of wheel/rail forces were made in August 1979 by the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) with the assistance of Battelle Columbus Laboratories to determine the causes of excessive wheel/rail wear experiences by the Washington Metropolita...

  5. Rail Safety/Equipment Crashworthiness : Volume 1. A Systems Analysis of Injury Minimization in Rail Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1978-07-01

    The Department of Transportation, Transportation Systems Center (TSC), is providing technical assistance to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in a program to improve railroad safety and efficiency by providing a technological basis for improv...

  6. Retrofit of existing statewide Louisiana safety walk bridge barrier railing systems : research project capsule.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-07-01

    Currently, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) : maintains approximately 200 miles of concrete safety walk barrier railing systems on : its bridges. Some of these vintage systems do not meet the current crash performance...

  7. Integrating light rail transit into traditional bus systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-07-01

    This document identifies those dynamics that facilitate a citys addition of light rail as a successful component of its urban system, with success deemed to be opening on schedule with minimal start-up issues. The study examines several new system...

  8. Passenger train emergency systems : development of prototype railEXODUS software for U.S. passenger rail car egress.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-11-01

    The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), is sponsoring a research program, which includes investigation of the applicability of time-based egress performance requirements to U.S. passenger rail cars. Th...

  9. Two-rail steel-backed timber guardrail system : Crown Point Highway, Multnomah County, Oregon : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1995-02-01

    In 1920, to provide for the safety of drivers on the Columbia River Highway, two-rail timber guardrail were installed. Subsequently, the two-rail timber guardrail were replaced by more modern guardrail. Recently, the Historic Columbia River Highway A...

  10. Impact Assessment of the Virginia Railway Express Commuter Rail on Land Use Development Patterns in Northern Virginia

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1993-12-01

    A new commuter rail system - the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) - began operations in Northern Virginia in mid-1992. The new VRE operated four trains each over two existing rail lines running through metropolitan fringe areas to downtown Washington, ...

  11. Power roll gin stand technology: Evaluation and optimization of rib rail angle and ginning point modifications on a retrofitted Lummus gin stand

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Previous studies have shown the powered roll gin stand (PRGS) is capable of improving ginning rate, turnout, and fiber quality relative to a conventional gin stand; however, most of these studies used Continental Eagle gin stands, the gin stand used to develop the initial prototype and the one used ...

  12. 76 FR 37025 - Make Inoperative Exemptions; Vehicle Modifications To Accommodate People With Disabilities, Side...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-24

    ... the seat. Many vehicles will depend on side impact air bag technology to meet all of the injury... installing side air bags in vehicle seats and/or door panels and side roof rails. The phase-in of the... expressed concern that: ``* * * torso side air bags are commonly installed in the outboard side of the OEM...

  13. 75 FR 59674 - Make Inoperative Exemptions; Vehicle Modifications To Accommodate People With Disabilities, Side...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-09-28

    ... that many vehicles will depend on side impact air bag technology to meet all of the injury criteria of... ``lead to the installation of new technologies, such as side curtain air bags and torso side air bags... is side air bag technology incorporated in the vehicle's roof rail (side air bag curtain), door, and...

  14. 49 CFR 1580.5 - Inspection authority.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... railroad carrier that operates rolling equipment on track that is part of the general railroad system of... rail operator, whether operating on or off the general railroad system of transportation. (7) Each... railroad system of transportation. (8) Each operator of a rail transit system that is not operating on...

  15. Stray Current Corrosion in Electrified Rail Systems - Final Report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1995-05-01

    The objectives of this study were (1)to assess the scope of stray-current corrosion on electrified rail systems based upon information in the literature and from interviews with selected transit system operators, and (2)to determine whether new or ad...

  16. Safety and Automated Train Control for Rail Rapid Transit Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1974-07-01

    The anticipated construction and expansion of rail rapid transit system in the United States over the next 10-15 years implies major capital expenditures. A significant level of automation in train cntrol is likely to be central to these systems. The...

  17. Installation of Existing Lift Systems for the Handicapped on Light Rail Vehicles

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1985-05-01

    This report documents the results of a three-phase program to install an existing transit bus wheelchair lift system on a Boeing Light Rail Vehicle (LRV). Program activities included a review of lift requirements, evaluation of existing lift systems,...

  18. Prediction and Control of Noise and Vibration in Rail Transit Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1978-09-01

    The purpose of this report is to present a balanced introductory view of noise from rail transportation systems and its control, and to provide references to more specialized material. The emphasis is on urban transit systems. However, data on interc...

  19. Noise Assessment of the Chicago Transit Authority Rail Rapid Transit System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1979-01-01

    The report describes the noise on and near the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) urban rail transit lines. The CTA urban rail lines consist of approximately 86 miles of two-way revenue track (of which 9.6 miles are in subway) and 155 stations. Noise da...

  20. 49 CFR 659.15 - System safety program standard.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... included in the affected rail transit agency's system safety program plan relating to the hazard management... 49 Transportation 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false System safety program standard. 659.15 Section 659... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RAIL FIXED GUIDEWAY SYSTEMS; STATE SAFETY OVERSIGHT Role of the...

  1. 78 FR 33146 - Importance of Clear Safety Procedures for Temporary Removal From Service of Highway-Rail Grade...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-03

    ... Systems and Wayside Signal Systems AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of... traveling public and railroad employees when highway- rail grade crossing warning systems and wayside signal systems are temporarily removed from service for purposes of testing, inspection, maintenance, or repair...

  2. Evaluation of Future Fuels in a High Pressure Common Rail System - Part 2. 2011 Ford 6.7L Diesel Engine

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-01-01

    An injector needle is shown for each test in Figure 41. UNCLASSIFIED 37 UNCLASSIFIED Full Needle 60°C Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel 60°C...UNCLASSIFIED EVALUATION OF FUTURE FUELS IN A HIGH PRESSURE COMMON RAIL SYSTEM – PART 2 2011 FORD 6.7L DIESEL ENGINE INTERIM REPORT TFLRF...UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED EVALUATION OF FUTURE FUELS IN A HIGH PRESSURE COMMON RAIL SYSTEM – PART 2 2011 FORD 6.7L DIESEL ENGINE INTERIM REPORT TFLRF

  3. Increased Rail Transit Vehicle Crashworthiness in Head-On Collisions. Volume III. Guidelines for Evaluation and Development of New Railcar Designs.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-06-01

    As systems manager for the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) Rail System Supporting Technology Program, the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) is conducting research and development efforts directed toward the introduction of improved ...

  4. Rail integrity alert system (RIAS) feature discrimination : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-08-01

    This report describes GE Global Researchs research, in partnership with GE Transportation, into developing and deploying : algorithms for a locomotive-based inductive sensing system that has a very high probability of detecting broken rails with v...

  5. 49 CFR 659.25 - Annual review of system safety program plan and system security plan.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... system security plan. 659.25 Section 659.25 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation... and system security plan. (a) The oversight agency shall require the rail transit agency to conduct an annual review of its system safety program plan and system security plan. (b) In the event the rail...

  6. Cooled electronic system with thermal spreaders coupling electronics cards to cold rails

    DOEpatents

    Chainer, Timothy J; Gaynes, Michael A; Graybill, David P; Iyengar, Madhusudan K; Kamath, Vinod; Kochuparambil, Bejoy J; Schmidt, Roger R; Schultz, Mark D; Simco, Daniel P; Steinke, Mark E

    2013-07-23

    Liquid-cooled electronic systems are provided which include an electronic assembly having an electronics card and a socket with a latch at one end. The latch facilitates securing of the card within the socket or removal of the card from the socket. A liquid-cooled cold rail is disposed at the one end of the socket, and a thermal spreader couples the electronics card to the cold rail. The thermal spreader includes first and second thermal transfer plates coupled to first and second surfaces on opposite sides of the card, and thermally conductive extensions extending from end edges of the plates, which couple the respective transfer plates to the liquid-cooled cold rail. The thermally conductive extensions are disposed to the sides of the latch, and the card is securable within or removable from the socket using the latch without removing the cold rail or the thermal spreader.

  7. A Concept for a Mobile Remote Manipulator System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mikulus, M. M., Jr.; Bush, H. G.; Wallsom, R. E.; Jensen, J. K.

    1985-01-01

    A conceptual design for a Mobile Remote Manipulator System (MRMS) is presented. This concept does not require continuous rails for mobility (only guide pins at truss hardpoints) and is very compact, being only one bay square. The MRMS proposed is highly maneuverable and is able to move in any direction along the orthogonal guide pin array under complete control at all times. The proposed concept would greatly enhance the safety and operational capabilities of astronauts performing EVA functions such as structural assembly, payload transport and attachment, space station maintenance, repair or modification, and future spacecraft construction or servicing. The MRMS drive system conceptual design presented is a reasonably simple mechanical device which can be designed to exhibit high reliability. Developmentally, all components of the proposed MRMS either exist or are considered to be completely state of the art designs requiring minimal development, features which should enhance reliability and minimize costs.

  8. Experimental investigation into the fault response of superconducting hybrid electric propulsion electrical power system to a DC rail to rail fault

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nolan, S.; Jones, C. E.; Munro, R.; Norman, P.; Galloway, S.; Venturumilli, S.; Sheng, J.; Yuan, W.

    2017-12-01

    Hybrid electric propulsion aircraft are proposed to improve overall aircraft efficiency, enabling future rising demands for air travel to be met. The development of appropriate electrical power systems to provide thrust for the aircraft is a significant challenge due to the much higher required power generation capacity levels and complexity of the aero-electrical power systems (AEPS). The efficiency and weight of the AEPS is critical to ensure that the benefits of hybrid propulsion are not mitigated by the electrical power train. Hence it is proposed that for larger aircraft (~200 passengers) superconducting power systems are used to meet target power densities. Central to the design of the hybrid propulsion AEPS is a robust and reliable electrical protection and fault management system. It is known from previous studies that the choice of protection system may have a significant impact on the overall efficiency of the AEPS. Hence an informed design process which considers the key trades between choice of cable and protection requirements is needed. To date the fault response of a voltage source converter interfaced DC link rail to rail fault in a superconducting power system has only been investigated using simulation models validated by theoretical values from the literature. This paper will present the experimentally obtained fault response for a variety of different types of superconducting tape for a rail to rail DC fault. The paper will then use these as a platform to identify key trades between protection requirements and cable design, providing guidelines to enable future informed decisions to optimise hybrid propulsion electrical power system and protection design.

  9. Creep force modelling for rail traction vehicles based on the Fastsim algorithm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spiryagin, Maksym; Polach, Oldrich; Cole, Colin

    2013-11-01

    The evaluation of creep forces is a complex task and their calculation is a time-consuming process for multibody simulation (MBS). A methodology of creep forces modelling at large traction creepages has been proposed by Polach [Creep forces in simulations of traction vehicles running on adhesion limit. Wear. 2005;258:992-1000; Influence of locomotive tractive effort on the forces between wheel and rail. Veh Syst Dyn. 2001(Suppl);35:7-22] adapting his previously published algorithm [Polach O. A fast wheel-rail forces calculation computer code. Veh Syst Dyn. 1999(Suppl);33:728-739]. The most common method for creep force modelling used by software packages for MBS of running dynamics is the Fastsim algorithm by Kalker [A fast algorithm for the simplified theory of rolling contact. Veh Syst Dyn. 1982;11:1-13]. However, the Fastsim code has some limitations which do not allow modelling the creep force - creep characteristic in agreement with measurements for locomotives and other high-power traction vehicles, mainly for large traction creep at low-adhesion conditions. This paper describes a newly developed methodology based on a variable contact flexibility increasing with the ratio of the slip area to the area of adhesion. This variable contact flexibility is introduced in a modification of Kalker's code Fastsim by replacing the constant Kalker's reduction factor, widely used in MBS, by a variable reduction factor together with a slip-velocity-dependent friction coefficient decreasing with increasing global creepage. The proposed methodology is presented in this work and compared with measurements for different locomotives. The modification allows use of the well recognised Fastsim code for simulation of creep forces at large creepages in agreement with measurements without modifying the proven modelling methodology at small creepages.

  10. 77 FR 5876 - Notice of Meeting of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS)

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-06

    ... the safety of public transportation systems. TRACS is comprised of 26 members, including 7 new members... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Notice of Meeting of the Transit Rail... meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a public meeting of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety...

  11. 78 FR 28285 - Notice of Meeting of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS)

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-14

    ... the safety of public transportation systems. TRACS is composed of 24 members representing a broad base... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Notice of Meeting of the Transit Rail... meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a public meeting of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety...

  12. 49 CFR 234.307 - Use of third-party telephone service by dispatching and maintaining railroads.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... Systems for Telephonic Reporting of Unsafe Conditions at Highway-Rail and Pathway Grade Crossings § 234...-party telephone service to receive reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade... railroad that either maintains a highway-rail or pathway grade crossing on a seasonal or intermittent basis...

  13. 76 FR 55622 - Systems for Telephonic Notification of Unsafe Conditions at Highway-Rail and Pathway Grade Crossings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-08

    ... Highway-Rail and Pathway Grade Crossings AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of... unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. FRA is announcing a public hearing to... and pathway grade crossings. See 76 FR 11992-12012 (March 4, 2011). Interested parties are invited to...

  14. 49 CFR 234.307 - Use of third-party telephone service by dispatching and maintaining railroads.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... Systems for Telephonic Reporting of Unsafe Conditions at Highway-Rail and Pathway Grade Crossings § 234...-party telephone service to receive reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade... railroad that either maintains a highway-rail or pathway grade crossing on a seasonal or intermittent basis...

  15. 49 CFR 234.307 - Use of third-party telephone service by dispatching and maintaining railroads.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... Systems for Telephonic Reporting of Unsafe Conditions at Highway-Rail and Pathway Grade Crossings § 234...-party telephone service to receive reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade... railroad that either maintains a highway-rail or pathway grade crossing on a seasonal or intermittent basis...

  16. 49 CFR 234.11 - State highway-rail grade crossing action plans.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false State highway-rail grade crossing action plans..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.11 State highway-rail grade crossing action plans. (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to reduce collisions at highway...

  17. 49 CFR 234.11 - State highway-rail grade crossing action plans.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false State highway-rail grade crossing action plans..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.11 State highway-rail grade crossing action plans. (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to reduce collisions at highway...

  18. 49 CFR 234.11 - State highway-rail grade crossing action plans.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false State highway-rail grade crossing action plans..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.11 State highway-rail grade crossing action plans. (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to reduce collisions at highway...

  19. ITS technology at highway-rail intersections : putting it to the test : proceedings from the ITS Joint Program Office Highway-Rail Intersection Evaluation Workshop May 6 & 7, 1999

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-01-19

    This document serves as the proceedings form an evaluation workshop that focused on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications at highway and rail crossings. Reports delivered contain information from seven U.S. sites where ITS technologie...

  20. Economic and demographic impacts of passenger rail systems : the impact of intercity passenger rails on population and employment change in the United States, 2000-2010.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-12-01

    This research examines the impact of intercity passenger rails on change in population and employment at the county level in the continental United States from 2000 to 2010. This research adopts an integrated spatial regression approach that incorpor...

  1. The Effect of Different Delivery Conditions on the Accelerated Degradation of Structural Steel in the Coal Mine Environment / Wpływ Różnego Stanu Dostawy Na Przyspieszoną Degradację Stali Konstrukcyjnej W Środowisku Kopalnianym

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pawłowski, Bogdan; Bała, Piotr

    2012-12-01

    The main objective of this work was to determine the effect of different delivery conditions on the accelerated degradation of structural steels used for lifting beams (rails) of the monorail transport systems. Some of these rails, made of the same steel grade as others, undergoes accelerated corrosion in the coal mine environment. Corrosion degradation occurs much faster (more than two times faster), comparing to the same steel grade rails operated under the same conditions but with different microstructures. However, all the provided rails meet the requirements of appropriate standards for steel on the lifting beams of the monorail transport systems. The investigations were carried out on rails made of the same steel grade but with different microstructures and showed that the main factor influencing the accelerated corrosion degradation of tested steels is the delivery condition, so-called "as rolled" condition. The greatest resistance to the accelerated corrosion showed rails in the normalized or normalizing rolling condition.

  2. Potential development of an intercity passenger transit system in Texas : final project report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-05-01

    This report describes the findings of a research study of the potential for development of an intercity rail and : express bus system in the state of Texas. Rather than focus on regional commuter or light rail systems : radiating from urban areas, th...

  3. Conductive Interference in Rapid Transit Signaling Systems. Volume 1. Theory and Data.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1985-11-01

    The purpose of this report is to summarize the results of a comprehensive program that has been pursued to delineate all aspects of conductive interference (CI) in rail transit systems and to help avoid its effects in new rail transit systems. The re...

  4. Specification Guide for Snow Removal Vehicles for Rail Transit Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-11-01

    During the Winter of 1977-1978, a major snow storm shut down the Boston transit system for almost a week and the Winter of 1978-1979 produced similar snow conditions that paraylzed the Chicago transit system and disabled more than half of their rail ...

  5. Energy management guidelines for rail transit systems : volume I. final report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1986-09-01

    The cost of electricity is a significant portion of the operating costs of rail transit systems. The impact of increasing energy costs is felt by those systems presently in operation and will be felt by those in the planning or construction phases. B...

  6. Electric rail gun projectile acceleration to high velocity

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bauer, D. P.; Mccormick, T. J.; Barber, J. P.

    1982-01-01

    Electric rail accelerators are being investigated for application in electric propulsion systems. Several electric propulsion applications require that the rail accelerator be capable of launching projectiles at velocities above 10 km/s. An experimental program was conducted to develop rail accelerator technology for high velocity projectile launch. Several 6 mm bore, 3 m long rail accelerators were fabricated. Projectiles with a mass of 0.2 g were accelerated by plasmas, carrying currents up to 150 kA. Experimental design and results are described. Results indicate that the accelerator performed as predicted for a fraction of the total projectile acceleration. The disparity between predicted and measured results are discussed.

  7. Rail Inspection Systems Analysis and Technology Survey

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1977-09-01

    The study was undertaken to identify existing rail inspection system capabilities and methods which might be used to improve these capabilities. Task I was a study to quantify existing inspection parameters and Task II was a cost effectiveness study ...

  8. Inductive Interference in Rapid Transit Signaling Systems. Volume 1. Theory and Background.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1986-05-01

    This report describes the mechanism of inductive interference to audio frequency (AF) signaling systems used in rail transit operations, caused by rail transit vehicles with chopper propulsion control. Choppers are switching circuits composed of high...

  9. Determination of the maximum MGS mounting height : phase I crash testing.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-03-09

    Post-and-rail guardrail systems encounter environmental conditions, such as severe frost heave or erosion, which : may drastically affect the post embedment depth and rail mounting height. In addition, guardrail systems may be designed : to accommoda...

  10. Rail fixed guideway systems : state safety oversight : final rule

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1995-12-27

    As required by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issues a rule requiring states to oversee the safety of rail fixed guideway systems not regulated by the Federal Railroad Administra...

  11. Rail Transit System Maintenance Practices for Automatic Fare Collection Equipment

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1984-05-01

    A review of rail transit system maintenance practices for automatic fare collection (AFC) equipment was performed. This study supports an UMTA sponsored program to improve the reliability of AFC equipment. The maintenance practices of the transit sys...

  12. Soviet Railroad Troops: An Updated Review.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-01-01

    4 Existing Soviet Transport System ........................... 4 *Scarcity of the Rail System ...basis for a totally new evaluation of the Soviet logistics system as a whole, significant misunderstanding will arise if rail capabilities are degraded...sizeable superiority in divisions, tanks, and artillery, the austere Soviet logistic system is suitable only for supporting a short war. In fact, the

  13. Technical and Economic Feasibility Study of At-Grade Concrete Slab Track for Urban Rail Transit Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-08-01

    The report presents work conducted to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of using concrete slab track systems for at-grade transit track. The functions of a rail transit track system are to guide railway vehicles and provide a safe and a...

  14. Review on Selection and Suitability of Rail Transit Station Design Pertaining to Public Safety

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Akabal, Farah Mohd; Masirin, Mohd Idrus Haji Mohd; Abidin Akasah, Zainal; Rohani, Munzilah Md

    2017-08-01

    Railway has emerged as a fast, convenient, safe, clean, and low-cost alternative to air and road transportation. Many countries have invested in rail transportation. In America, Europe and Asia, large investments are planned for rail transportation. This is because congestion problems can be reduced with the introduction of rail transportation. Rail transportation involves several components which are important to ensure the smooth and safe delivery of services such as locomotives, rail stations and railway tracks. Rail transit stations are places where trains stop to pick-up and drop-off passengers. Stations are vital for many to enable them to engage in work and social commitments. This paper focuses only on the rail transit station as it is one of the important components in rail transportation. It is also considered as a key public meeting place and space for interactions in a community. The role of rail transit station and the requirements of a good rail transit station are also described in this paper. Steps in selecting the location of rail transit station include the function and facilities in rail transit station are discussed with reference to best practices and handbooks. Selection of the appropriate rail transit station locations may help users indirectly. In addition, this paper will also elucidate on the design considerations for an efficient and effective rail transit station. Design selections for the rail transit station must be balanced between aesthetic value and functional efficiency. The right design selection may help conserve energy, assure and facilitate consumers even thought a rail transit station plays a smaller role in attracting consumers compared to a shopping complex or a residential building. This will contribute towards better and greener building for a green transportation facility. Thus, with this paper it is expected to assist the relevant authority to identify important elements in the selection and determination of suitable rail transit station design for the future. It is also important to ensure the design is appropriate from the selection and suitability perspective as design and operation will assist to facilitate the success of the national rail network and encourage the public to use rail transit system. A conducive and neatly design railway station will not only add to the passenger experience but also, as a supporting facility to the economic, social and environmental benefits of the rail industry.

  15. Guidelines for Managing Suspected Chemical and Biological Agent Incidents in Rail Tunnel Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-03-01

    These emergency management guidelines are designed to help transit managers (1) prepare and implement standard operating procedures (SOPs) for handling potential and actual chemical or biological agent attacks in their rail tunnel system and (2) unde...

  16. Rural freight rail and multimodal transportation improvements - the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-07-01

    Affordable freight transportation is a requirement for survival for rural industries, and in many : cases requires the presence of freight rail systems. This study investigated the transportation : system in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.). Th...

  17. International lessons for promoting transit connections to high-speed rail systems.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-04-01

    As the California High-Speed Rail (HSR) project becomes reality, many communities involved in, or affected by, the California : HSR project have considered how to connect the new HSR passenger services to local urban transportation systems such a...

  18. Rail transit shared use and control systems study.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-03-01

    Since the 1990s, there has been growing interest in shared use of general railway system railroad rights-of-way and tracks by transit : vehicles (such as light rail vehicles) that do not fully comply with Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulat...

  19. Midwest Regional Rail System : a transportation network for the 21st century

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-02-01

    This report includes an assessment of and refinements to the Midwest Regional Rail System Plan published in August 1998. The report addresses an extensive range of issues, including infrastructure and operational requirements, level of travel market ...

  20. Design on wireless auto-measurement system for lead rail straightness measurement based on PSD

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Xiugang; Zhang, Shuqin; Dong, Dengfeng; Cheng, Zhi; Wu, Guanghua; Wang, Jie; Zhou, Weihu

    2016-10-01

    Straightness detection is not only one of the key technologies for the product quality and installation accuracy of all types of lead rail, but also an important dimensional measurement technology. The straightness measuring devices now available have disadvantages of low automation level, limiting by measuring environment, and low measurement efficiency. In this paper, a wireless measurement system for straightness detection based on position sensitive detector (PSD) is proposed. The system has some advantage of high automation-level, convenient, high measurement efficiency, easy to transplanting and expanding, and can detect straightness of lead rail in real-time.

  1. Plans for crash-tested bridge railings for longitudinal wood decks on low-volume roads

    Treesearch

    Michael A. Ritter; Ronald K. Faller; Steve Bunnell; Paula D. Hilbrich Lee; Barry T. Rosson

    1998-01-01

    The plans for crashworthy bridge railings for low-volume roads were developed through a cooperative research program involving the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL); the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (MwRSF); and the Forest Service, National Forest System, Engineering. Three railings were developed and successfully...

  2. 49 CFR 234.305 - Remedial actions in response to reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. 234.305 Section 234.305 Transportation Other... Pathway Grade Crossings § 234.305 Remedial actions in response to reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. (a) General rule on response to credible report of warning system...

  3. 49 CFR 234.305 - Remedial actions in response to reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. 234.305 Section 234.305 Transportation Other... Pathway Grade Crossings § 234.305 Remedial actions in response to reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. (a) General rule on response to credible report of warning system...

  4. 49 CFR 234.305 - Remedial actions in response to reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. 234.305 Section 234.305 Transportation Other... Pathway Grade Crossings § 234.305 Remedial actions in response to reports of unsafe conditions at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings. (a) General rule on response to credible report of warning system...

  5. 49 CFR 236.531 - Trip arm; height and distance from rail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Trip arm; height and distance from rail. 236.531... Train Stop, Train Control and Cab Signal Systems Rules and Instructions; Roadway § 236.531 Trip arm; height and distance from rail. Trip arm of automatic train stop device when in the stop position shall be...

  6. 49 CFR 236.531 - Trip arm; height and distance from rail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Trip arm; height and distance from rail. 236.531... Train Stop, Train Control and Cab Signal Systems Rules and Instructions; Roadway § 236.531 Trip arm; height and distance from rail. Trip arm of automatic train stop device when in the stop position shall be...

  7. 49 CFR 236.531 - Trip arm; height and distance from rail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Trip arm; height and distance from rail. 236.531... Train Stop, Train Control and Cab Signal Systems Rules and Instructions; Roadway § 236.531 Trip arm; height and distance from rail. Trip arm of automatic train stop device when in the stop position shall be...

  8. 49 CFR 236.531 - Trip arm; height and distance from rail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Trip arm; height and distance from rail. 236.531... Train Stop, Train Control and Cab Signal Systems Rules and Instructions; Roadway § 236.531 Trip arm; height and distance from rail. Trip arm of automatic train stop device when in the stop position shall be...

  9. 49 CFR 236.531 - Trip arm; height and distance from rail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Trip arm; height and distance from rail. 236.531... Train Stop, Train Control and Cab Signal Systems Rules and Instructions; Roadway § 236.531 Trip arm; height and distance from rail. Trip arm of automatic train stop device when in the stop position shall be...

  10. The operation of a single-sided linear induction motor with squirrel-cage and solid-steel reaction rails

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eastham, A. R.; Katz, R. M.

    1980-09-01

    Two test programs have been conducted to evaluate the performance of a single-sided linear induction motor with a squirrel-cage reaction rail and with a solid steel reaction rail. A 1.73-m-long six-pole stator interacted with the rails mounted on the rim of a 7.6-m-diam wheel. A 64-channel data acquisition system allowed tests to be performed over a wide range of operating conditions at speeds up to 20 m/sec. Typical test results which compare and contrast the mechanical, electrical and magnetic behavior of the SLIMs are presented. The test data are being used to assess the SLIM as an integrated suspension/propulsion system and for other transportation applications.

  11. Baltimore region rail system plan : report of the advisory committee

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-08-01

    This report by a committee of public and private leaders makes recommendations for a comprehensive rail transit system for the greater Baltimore metropolitan area. The objectives of the plan are simple: 1) to establish, over the next ten years, a tru...

  12. Evaluation of retroreflective markings to increase rail car conspicuity

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop guidelines and recommendations for the design of retroreflective marking systems to enhance the conspicuity of rail cars at night. Three methods were used to generate and evaluate the marking systems for a sta...

  13. Federal funding of rail rehabilitation : a review of alternative approaches

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1975-09-01

    This study explores the proposed mechanisms for injecting federal funds into the rehabilitation of the fixed plant of U.S. railroads--that is, the roadbed, ballast, ties, signaling systems, yards and terminals that make up the physical rail system. T...

  14. Noise Assessment of the New York City Rail Rapid Transit System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1979-01-01

    The report describes the noise climate on and near the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) urban rail system, including the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA). Noise level data is also presented for the Port Authority Trans-...

  15. Design and optimisation of wheel-rail profiles for adhesion improvement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, B.; Mei, T. X.; Bruni, S.

    2016-03-01

    This paper describes a study for the optimisation of the wheel profile in the wheel-rail system to increase the overall level of adhesion available at the contact interface, in particular to investigate how the wheel and rail profile combination may be designed to ensure the improved delivery of tractive/braking forces even in poor contact conditions. The research focuses on the geometric combination of both wheel and rail profiles to establish how the contact interface may be optimised to increase the adhesion level, but also to investigate how the change in the property of the contact mechanics at the wheel-rail interface may also lead to changes in the vehicle dynamic behaviour.

  16. Analysis of the dominant vibration frequencies of rail bridges for structure-borne noise using a power flow method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Q.; Wu, D. J.

    2013-09-01

    The use of concrete bridges in urban rail transit systems has raised many concerns regarding low-frequency (20-200 Hz) structure-borne noise due to the vibration of bridges when subjected to moving trains. Understanding the mechanism that determines the dominant frequencies of bridge vibrations is essential for both vibration and noise reduction. This paper presents a general procedure based on the force method to obtain the power flows within a coupled vehicle-track-bridge system, the point mobility of the system and the dynamic interaction forces connecting various components. The general coupling system consists of multi-rigid-bodies for the vehicles, infinite Euler beams representing the rails, two-dimensional or three-dimensional elements of the concrete bridges, and spring-dashpot pairs to model the wheel-rail contacts, the vehicle suspensions, the rail pads and the bridge bearings. The dynamic interaction of the coupled system is solved in the frequency domain by assuming the combined wheel-rail roughness moves forward relative to the stationary vehicles. The proposed procedure is first applied to a rail on discrete supports and then to a real urban rail transit U-shaped concrete bridge. The computed results show that the wheel-rail contact forces, the power flows to the rail/bridge subsystem and the accelerations of the bridge are primarily dominated by the contents around the natural frequency of a single wheel adhered to the elastically supported rail. If the ath node of the mth spring-dashpot pair and the bth node of the nth spring-dashpot pair are connected to the same rigid body, then δmnab(ω) can be expressed as δmnab(ω)=-{(}/{Mlω}, where Ml is the mass of the lth rigid body. If the ath node of the mth spring-dashpot pair and the bth node of the nth spring-dashpot pair are connected to the same infinite rail, δmnab(ω) can be expressed as [8] δmnab(ω)=-j{((e-je)}/{4EIk}, where xm and xn are the x-coordinates of the mth and nth spring-dashpot pairs respectively; E and I denote the elastic module and the bending moment of inertia of the infinite rail; and k is the wavenumber of the unsupported infinite rail k=(EI)1/4, where mr is the mass per unit length of the rail. If the ath node of the mth spring-dashpot pair and the bth node of the nth spring-dashpot pair are connected to the same bridge component, then δmnab(ω) can be obtained by applying the mode superposition method δmnab(ω)=∑i=1Nl{(ϕ}/{liaϕlibωli2-ω+2jξωω}, where ω and ξ are the damped natural frequency and damping ratio of the ith mode of the lth bridge component; ϕlia and ϕlib denote the generalised mode shape amplitudes of the the lth bridge component to which the ath and bth nodes of the two spring-dashpot pairs are connected; and Nl is the mode number of interest. It can be observed from Eqs. (2)-(7) that the theorem of reciprocal displacements is met as follows: δ(ω)=δ(ω). An external point excitation can be regarded as a force produced by a spring-dashpot pair with its first node connected to the excitation point and the second node fixed to the ground. Therefore, each element in vector ΔP(ω) can be easily attained using the first and last terms of Eq. (3): Δmp(ω)=δmp11(ω)+δmp21(ω), where the subscript p denotes the fictitious spring-dashpot pair used to simulate the external harmonic force. The dominant frequency of the wheel-rail contact forces and power input to the rail on elastic supports is found to be consistent with the natural frequency of the single wheel adhered to the elastically supported rail. The simple formula derived to predict this dominant frequency matches well with the numerical results. The acceleration response of the bridge is also dominated by the natural frequency of the single wheel adhered to the elastically supported rail. Although the vehicle speed has an insignificant effect on the dominant frequency of the bridge response, it does influence the magnitude of the response. The findings in this paper and the proposed method can be applied to mitigate the vibration and noise from rail bridges once a series of parametric analyses has been carried out.

  17. A nonlinear and fractional derivative viscoelastic model for rail pads in the dynamic analysis of coupled vehicle-slab track systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Shengyang; Cai, Chengbiao; Spanos, Pol D.

    2015-01-01

    A nonlinear and fractional derivative viscoelastic (FDV) model is used to capture the complex behavior of rail pads. It is implemented into the dynamic analysis of coupled vehicle-slab track (CVST) systems. The vehicle is treated as a multi-body system with 10 degrees of freedom, and the slab track is represented by a three layer Bernoulli-Euler beam model. The model for the rail pads is one dimensional, and the force-displacement relation is based on a superposition of elastic, friction, and FDV forces. This model takes into account the influences of the excitation frequency and of the displacement amplitude through a fractional derivative element, and a nonlinear friction element, respectively. The Grünwald representation of the fractional derivatives is employed to numerically solve the fractional and nonlinear equations of motion of the CVST system by means of an explicit integration algorithm. A dynamic analysis of the CVST system exposed to excitations of rail harmonic irregularities is carried out, pointing out the stiffness and damping dependence on the excitation frequency and the displacement amplitude. The analysis indicates that the dynamic stiffness and damping of the rail pads increase with the excitation frequency while they decrease with the displacement amplitude. Furthermore, comparisons between the proposed model and ordinary Kelvin model adopted for the CVST system, under excitations of welded rail joint irregularities and of random track irregularities, are conducted in the time domain as well as in the frequency domain. The proposed model is shown to possess several modeling advantages over the ordinary Kelvin element which overestimates both the stiffness and damping features at high frequencies.

  18. A study on high-speed rolling contact between a wheel and a contaminated rail

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Xin; Wen, Zefeng; Zhu, Minhao; Jin, Xuesong

    2014-10-01

    A 3-D explicit finite element model is developed to investigate the transient wheel-rail rolling contact in the presence of rail contamination or short low adhesion zones (LAZs). A transient analysis is required because the wheel passes by a short LAZ very quickly, especially at high speeds. A surface-to-surface contact algorithm (by the penalty method) is employed to solve the frictional rolling contact between the wheel and the rail meshed by solid elements. The LAZ is simulated by a varying coefficient of friction along the rail. Different traction efforts and action of the traction control system triggered by the LAZ are simulated by applying a time-dependent driving torque to the wheel axle. Structural flexibilities of the vehicle-track system are considered properly. Analysis focuses on the contact forces, creepage, contact stresses and the derived frictional work and plastic deformation. It is found that the longitudinal contact force and the maximum surface shear stress in the contact patch become obviously lower in the LAZ and much higher as the wheel re-enters the dry rail section. Consequently, a higher wear rate and larger plastic flow are expected at the location where the dry contact starts to be rebuilt. In other words, contact surface damages such as wheel flats and rail burns may come into being because of the LAZ. Length of the LAZ, the traction level, etc. are varied. The results also show that local contact surface damages may still occur as the traction control system acts.

  19. 77 FR 25910 - National Trails System Act and Railroad Rights-of-Way

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-02

    ...] National Trails System Act and Railroad Rights-of-Way AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT. ACTION...) for rail banking and interim trail use under the National Trails System Act (Trails Act). New rules are adopted that require the parties jointly to notify the Board when an interim trail use/rail...

  20. 75 FR 20421 - Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Expansion of Light Rail Transit Service...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-19

    ... associated with the construction and operation of the Glassboro-Camden Line (GCL) light rail system, as well as assess and document a No-Action Alternative and a Transportation System Management (TSM... and benefits of the GCL alternatives. Transportation System Management (TSM) Alternative: The TSM...

  1. Beams on nonlinear elastic foundation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lukkassen, Dag; Meidell, Annette

    2014-12-01

    In order to determination vertical deflections and rail bending moments the Winkler model (1867) is often used. This linear model neglects several conditions. For example, by using experimental results, it has been observed that there is a substantial increase in the maximum rail deflection and rail bending moment when considering the nonlinearity of the track support system. A deeper mathematical analysis of the models is necessary in order to obtain better methods for more accurate numerical solutions in the determination of deflections and rail bending moments. This paper is intended to be a small step in this direction.

  2. 49 CFR 659.5 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... TRANSPORTATION RAIL FIXED GUIDEWAY SYSTEMS; STATE SAFETY OVERSIGHT General Provisions § 659.5 Definitions... Transportation. Hazard means any real or potential condition (as defined in the rail transit agency's hazard management process) that can cause injury, illness, or death; damage to or loss of a system, equipment or...

  3. 49 CFR 659.5 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... TRANSPORTATION RAIL FIXED GUIDEWAY SYSTEMS; STATE SAFETY OVERSIGHT General Provisions § 659.5 Definitions... Transportation. Hazard means any real or potential condition (as defined in the rail transit agency's hazard management process) that can cause injury, illness, or death; damage to or loss of a system, equipment or...

  4. 49 CFR 659.5 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... TRANSPORTATION RAIL FIXED GUIDEWAY SYSTEMS; STATE SAFETY OVERSIGHT General Provisions § 659.5 Definitions... Transportation. Hazard means any real or potential condition (as defined in the rail transit agency's hazard management process) that can cause injury, illness, or death; damage to or loss of a system, equipment or...

  5. 49 CFR 659.5 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... TRANSPORTATION RAIL FIXED GUIDEWAY SYSTEMS; STATE SAFETY OVERSIGHT General Provisions § 659.5 Definitions... Transportation. Hazard means any real or potential condition (as defined in the rail transit agency's hazard management process) that can cause injury, illness, or death; damage to or loss of a system, equipment or...

  6. 49 CFR 1580.101 - Rail security coordinator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... system of transportation, when notified by TSA in writing, that a threat exists concerning that operation.... This section applies to: (1) Each freight railroad carrier that operates rolling equipment on track that is part of the general railroad system of transportation. (2) Each rail hazardous materials...

  7. Using real time traveler demand data to optimize commuter rail feeder systems.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-08-01

    "This report focuses on real time optimization of the Commuter Rail Circulator Route Network Design Problem (CRCNDP). The route configuration of the circulator system where to stop and the route among the stops is determined on a real-time ba...

  8. DYNALIST II : A Computer Program for Stability and Dynamic Response Analysis of Rail Vehicle Systems : Volume 4. Revised User's Manual.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1976-07-01

    The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is sponsoring research, development, and demonstration programs to provide improved safety, performance, speed, reliability, and maintainability of rail transportation systems at reduced life-cycle costs. A m...

  9. Modelling of dynamic contact length in rail grinding process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhi, Shaodan; Li, Jianyong; Zarembski, A. M.

    2014-09-01

    Rails endure frequent dynamic loads from the passing trains for supporting trains and guiding wheels. The accumulated stress concentrations will cause the plastic deformation of rail towards generating corrugations, contact fatigue cracks and also other defects, resulting in more dangerous status even the derailment risks. So the rail grinding technology has been invented with rotating grinding stones pressed on the rail with defects removal. Such rail grinding works are directed by experiences rather than scientifically guidance, lacking of flexible and scientific operating methods. With grinding control unit holding the grinding stones, the rail grinding process has the characteristics not only the surface grinding but also the running railway vehicles. First of all, it's important to analyze the contact length between the grinding stone and the rail, because the contact length is a critical parameter to measure the grinding capabilities of stones. Moreover, it's needed to build up models of railway vehicle unit bonded with the grinding stone to represent the rail grinding car. Therefore the theoretical model for contact length is developed based on the geometrical analysis. And the calculating models are improved considering the grinding car's dynamic behaviors during the grinding process. Eventually, results are obtained based on the models by taking both the operation parameters and the structure parameters into the calculation, which are suitable for revealing the process of rail grinding by combining the grinding mechanism and the railway vehicle systems.

  10. Description and operating performance of a parallel-rail electric-arc system with helium driver gas for the Langley 6-inch expansion tube

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Moore, J. A.

    1976-01-01

    A parallel-rail arc-discharge system to heat and pressurize the initial helium driver gas of the Langley 6-inch expansion tube is described. This system was designed for a 2.44-m-long driver vessel rated at 138 MPa, with a distance between rails of 20.3 cm. Electric energy was obtained from a capacitor storage system rated at 12,000 V with a maximum energy of 5 MJ. Tests were performed over a range of energy from 1.74 MJ to the maximum value. The operating experience and system performance are discussed, along with results from a limited number of expansion-tube tests with air and carbon dioxide as test gases.

  11. New magnetic rails with double-layer Halbach structure by employing NdFeB and ferrite magnets for HTS maglev

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Ruixue; Zheng, Jun; Zheng, Botian; Qian, Nan; Li, Jipeng; Deng, Zigang

    2018-01-01

    In the high temperature superconducting (HTS) maglev system, the magnetic rail as an essential infrastructure is needed all along the route to carry passengers and goods to the destinations. Thus, large amount of rare earth magnetic materials are required in the magnetic rail construction. In order to decrease the dependence of magnetic rails on rare earth elements, the ferrite magnet is employed to replace part of the NdFeB magnets containing rare earth elements. Consequently, a new type rail with double-layer Halbach structure is presented, which is consisted of NdFeB and ferrite magnets. In this paper, we designed and fabricated the proposed rail, and further measured its magnetic flux density distribution and electromagnetic force interacting with HTS bulks. Experimental results indicate that, this new type rail, in double-layer Halbach structure, can achieve an equivalent distribution of magnetic flux density and levitation performance as the pure NdFeB Halbach rail, while a 10% reduction in NdFeB magnet consumption can be realized at the same time. In addition this work explores another magnetic material selection for HTS maglev applications. The dependence on rare earth element and the cost of magnetic rails can be further reduced, as the coercive force of ferrite magnets improved.

  12. Investigation on the Nonlinear Control System of High-Pressure Common Rail (HPCR) System in a Diesel Engine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cai, Le; Mao, Xiaobing; Ma, Zhexuan

    2018-02-01

    This study first constructed the nonlinear mathematical model of the high-pressure common rail (HPCR) system in the diesel engine. Then, the nonlinear state transformation was performed using the flow’s calculation and the standard state space equation was acquired. Based on sliding-mode variable structure control (SMVSC) theory, a sliding-mode controller for nonlinear systems was designed for achieving the control of common rail pressure and the diesel engine’s rotational speed. Finally, on the simulation platform of MATLAB, the designed nonlinear HPCR system was simulated. The simulation results demonstrate that sliding-mode variable structure control algorithm shows favorable control performances and overcome the shortcomings of traditional PID control in overshoot, parameter adjustment, system precision, adjustment time and ascending time.

  13. Numerical predictions of EML (electromagnetic launcher) system performance

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Schnurr, N.M.; Kerrisk, J.F.; Davidson, R.F.

    1987-01-01

    The performance of an electromagnetic launcher (EML) depends on a large number of parameters, including the characteristics of the power supply, rail geometry, rail and insulator material properties, injection velocity, and projectile mass. EML system performance is frequently limited by structural or thermal effects in the launcher (railgun). A series of computer codes has been developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to predict EML system performance and to determine the structural and thermal constraints on barrel design. These codes include FLD, a two-dimensional electrostatic code used to calculate the high-frequency inductance gradient and surface current density distribution for themore » rails; TOPAZRG, a two-dimensional finite-element code that simultaneously analyzes thermal and electromagnetic diffusion in the rails; and LARGE, a code that predicts the performance of the entire EML system. Trhe NIKE2D code, developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is used to perform structural analyses of the rails. These codes have been instrumental in the design of the Lethality Test System (LTS) at Los Alamos, which has an ultimate goal of accelerating a 30-g projectile to a velocity of 15 km/s. The capabilities of the individual codes and the coupling of these codes to perform a comprehensive analysis is discussed in relation to the LTS design. Numerical predictions are compared with experimental data and presented for the LTS prototype tests.« less

  14. Safety of High Speed Guided Ground Transportation Systems - An Overview of Biological Effects and Mechanisms Relevant to EMF Exposures from Mass Transit and Electric Rail Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1993-08-01

    The U.S. has implemented a national initiative to develop maglev (magnetic levitation) and other high-speed rail (HSR) : systems. There are concerns for potential adverse health effects of the Extremely Lou Frequency (3-3,000 Hz) electric : and magne...

  15. 49 CFR 37.77 - Purchase or lease of new non-rail vehicles by public entities operating a demand responsive...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... public entities operating a demand responsive system for the general public. 37.77 Section 37.77...-rail vehicles by public entities operating a demand responsive system for the general public. (a) Except as provided in this section, a public entity operating a demand responsive system for the general...

  16. 49 CFR 37.77 - Purchase or lease of new non-rail vehicles by public entities operating a demand responsive...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... public entities operating a demand responsive system for the general public. 37.77 Section 37.77...-rail vehicles by public entities operating a demand responsive system for the general public. (a) Except as provided in this section, a public entity operating a demand responsive system for the general...

  17. 49 CFR 37.77 - Purchase or lease of new non-rail vehicles by public entities operating a demand responsive...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... public entities operating a demand responsive system for the general public. 37.77 Section 37.77...-rail vehicles by public entities operating a demand responsive system for the general public. (a) Except as provided in this section, a public entity operating a demand responsive system for the general...

  18. 49 CFR 37.77 - Purchase or lease of new non-rail vehicles by public entities operating a demand responsive...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... public entities operating a demand responsive system for the general public. 37.77 Section 37.77...-rail vehicles by public entities operating a demand responsive system for the general public. (a) Except as provided in this section, a public entity operating a demand responsive system for the general...

  19. Deviation rectification for dynamic measurement of rail wear based on coordinate sets projection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Chao; Ma, Ziji; Li, Yanfu; Zeng, Jiuzhen; Jin, Tan; Liu, Hongli

    2017-10-01

    Dynamic measurement of rail wear using a laser imaging system suffers from random vibrations in the laser-based imaging sensor which cause distorted rail profiles. In this paper, a simple and effective method for rectifying profile deviation is presented to address this issue. There are two main steps: profile recognition and distortion calibration. According to the constant camera and projector parameters, efficient recognition of measured profiles is achieved by analyzing the geometric difference between normal profiles and distorted ones. For a distorted profile, by constructing coordinate sets projecting from it to the standard one on triple projecting primitives, including the rail head inner line, rail waist curve and rail jaw, iterative extrinsic camera parameter self-compensation is implemented. The distortion is calibrated by projecting the distorted profile onto the x-y plane of a measuring coordinate frame, which is parallel to the rail cross section, to eliminate the influence of random vibrations in the laser-based imaging sensor. As well as evaluating the implementation with comprehensive experiments, we also compare our method with other published works. The results exhibit the effectiveness and superiority of our method for the dynamic measurement of rail wear.

  20. 49 CFR 38.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 38.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by...

  1. 49 CFR 38.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 38.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall...(d) are provided, the car is not required to be equipped with a car-borne device. The access systems...

  2. 49 CFR 38.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 38.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall...(d) are provided, the car is not required to be equipped with a car-borne device. The access systems...

  3. 49 CFR 38.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 38.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by...

  4. 49 CFR 38.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 38.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall...(d) are provided, the car is not required to be equipped with a car-borne device. The access systems...

  5. 49 CFR 38.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 38.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by...

  6. Noise Impact Inventory of Elevated Structures in U.S. Urban Rail Rapid Transit Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-09-01

    This report presents the results of the third task of a five-task program dealing with the reduction of noise from elevated structures in use in U.S. rail rapid transit systems. This report is an inventory and impact assessment of the noise radiated ...

  7. Survey of Sliding Contact/Solid Rail Power Collection Systems for Application to the Tracked Air Cushion Vehicle

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1971-01-01

    The objective of a power collection system is to deliver uninterrupted power from the wayside to a vehicle. In order to apply the third rail concept, used for subway power collection, to the tracked air cushion vehicle, considerable improvement must ...

  8. 76 FR 12788 - Environmental Impact Statement for a Proposed Urban Rail system in Austin, TX

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Environmental Impact Statement for a... Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA... Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Urban Rail system in Austin, Texas. The EIS will be prepared in...

  9. Enhancing the connectivity of high speed rail in the Orlando-Tampa corridor with local public transportation systems : issues and opportunities.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-01-01

    High Speed Rail (HSR) will only be truly transformational if it has effective connections with as many other modes of transportation as possible. This project looks at local public transportation systems that have opportunities to connect to HSR stat...

  10. Development of the electromagnetic technology for broken rail detection from a mobil platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Plotnikov, Yuri; Raghunathan, Arun; Kumar, Ajith; Noffsinger, Joseph; Fries, Jeffrey; Ehret, Steven; Frangieh, Tannous; Palanganda, Samhitha

    2016-02-01

    Timely detection of breaks in running rails remains a topic of significant importance for the railroad industry. GE has been investigating new ideas of the Rail Integrity Monitoring or RIM technology that can be implemented on a wide range of the rolling stock platforms including locomotives, passenger and freight cars. The focus of the project is to establish a simple, non-contact, and inexpensive means of nondestructive inspection by fusion of known solutions with new technology development that can result in detection with high reliability. A scaled down model of a typical locomotive-track system has been developed at GE Global research for detailed study of the detection process. In addition, a finite element model has been established and used to understand distribution of the magnetic field and currents in such a system. Both models have been using the rails and wheel-axles geometry to establish a realistic model that would provide the electric current and magnetic field distribution close to the real world phenomenon. Initial magnetic field maps were obtained by scanning a 1:15 model constructed of steel bars using a 3D scanner and an inductive coil. Sensitivity to a broken rail located between two locomotive axles simulated by an opening in this metallic frame was demonstrated. Further investigation and optimization was conducted on a larger, 1:3 scale, physical model and by running mathematical simulations. Special attention was paid to consistency between the finite element and physical model results. The obtained results allowed establishment of a working frequency range, inductive current injection into the rail-wheel-axle loop and measuring the electromagnetic response to a broken rail. The verification and full scale system prototype tests are following the laboratory experiments and mathematical simulations.

  11. Reduction of Sleep Deprivation and Fatigue in Mass Transit Rail Operators.

    PubMed

    Haynes, Ajeenah L

    2017-08-01

    Sleep and work schedules differ considerably between rail workers and the broader U.S. workforce. Due to extended work hours and night shift schedules, train and engine service workers who operate passenger trains or move freight are most vulnerable to fatigue. This article addresses the need for comprehensive fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) for rail operators. Using a transactional ergonomic perspective, FRMS are discussed with a focus on fatigue education and administrative controls to reduce feelings of tiredness, low motivation, poor concentration, and low physical activity among mass transit rail operators. Recommendations for intervention implementation and evaluation are provided.

  12. Investigation of rail irregularity effects on wheel/rail dynamic force in slab track: Comparison of two and three dimensional models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sadeghi, Javad; Khajehdezfuly, Amin; Esmaeili, Morteza; Poorveis, Davood

    2016-07-01

    Rail irregularity is one of the most significant load amplification factors in railway track systems. In this paper, the capability and effectiveness of the two main railway slab tracks modeling techniques in prediction of the influences of rail irregularities on the Wheel/Rail Dynamic Force (WRDF) were investigated. For this purpose, two 2D and 3D numerical models of vehicle/discontinuous slab track interaction were developed. The validation of the numerical models was made by comparing the results of the models with those obtained from comprehensive field tests carried out in this research. The effects of the harmonic and non-harmonic rail irregularities on the WRDF obtained from 3D and 2D models were investigated. The results indicate that the difference between WRDF obtained from 2D and 3D models is negligible when the irregularities on the right and left rails are the same. However, as the difference between irregularities of the right and left rails increases, the results obtained from 2D and 3D models are considerably different. The results indicate that 2D models have limitations in prediction of WRDF; that is, a 3D modeling technique is required to predict WRDF when there is uneven or non-harmonic irregularity with large amplitudes. The size and extent of the influences of rail irregularities on the wheel/rail forces were discussed leading to provide a better understanding of the rail-wheel contact behavior and the required techniques for predicting WRDF.

  13. Rail capacity improvement study for commuter operations.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-11-01

    The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) notes that over the last decade, commuter rail systems have experienced increased ridership that closely matches the increases in gasoline prices. FTA also identified highway congestion and environmental conce...

  14. Two test level 4 bridge railing and transition systems for transverse timber deck bridges

    Treesearch

    Ronald K. Faller; Michael A. Ritter; Barry T. Rosson; Michael D. Fowler; Sheila R. Duwadi

    2000-01-01

    The Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, in cooperation with the Forest Products Laboratory, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agricultureas Forest Service, and FHWA, designed two bridge railing and approach guardrail transition systems for use on bridges with transverse glue-laminated timber decks. The bridge raging and transition systems were developed and crash...

  15. Ride performance of a high speed rail vehicle using controlled semi active suspension system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, Sunil Kumar; Kumar, Anil

    2017-05-01

    The rail-wheel interaction in a rail vehicle running at high speed results in large amplitude vibration of carbody that deteriorates the ride comfort of travellers. The role of suspension system is crucial to provide an acceptable level of ride performance. In this context, an existing rail vehicle is modelled in vertical, pitch and roll motions of carbody and bogies. Additionally, nonlinear stiffness and damping parameters of passive suspension system are defined based on experimental data. In the secondary vertical suspension system, a magneto-rheological (MR) damper is included to improve the ride quality and comfort. The parameters of MR damper depend on the current, amplitude and frequency of excitations. At different running speeds, three semi-active suspension strategies with MR damper are analysed for periodic track irregularity and the resulting performance indices are juxtaposed with the nonlinear passive suspension system. The disturbance rejection and force tracking damper controller algorithms are applied to control the desired force of MR damper. This study reveals that the vertical vibrations of a vehicle can be reduced significantly by using the proposed semi-active suspension strategies. Moreover, it naturally results in improved ride quality and passenger’s comfort in comparison to the existing passive system.

  16. Vibration response of buildings to rail transit groundborne vibration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Phillips, James

    2005-09-01

    The FTA guidelines for detailed analysis and prediction of groundborne noise and vibration generated by rail transit systems are based on established empirical methods. The procedures for the measurement of vehicle/track system source strength and the attenuation of vibration as it propagates with distance through the ground are generally accepted practice at this time. However, characterization of the building response is open to debate, due in part to the wide array of building construction encountered adjacent to transit systems. Numerous measurements that have been obtained in a variety of building construction types are presented and preliminary conclusions are drawn regarding the responses of several common building types to rail transit groundborne vibration.

  17. The Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future: Progress Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-03-01

    Over the past three years, the Administration has continued to develop and expand America’s high-speed and intercity passenger rail system. In May...2011, DOT announced $2 billion in high-speed rail, bringing our unprecedented investment to $10.1 billion to date. In FY 2011, intercity rail...thousands of jobs, improve and expand travel options, cut energy use and help make our communities more livable. Improving Transportation Choices

  18. Modelling, validation and analysis of a three-dimensional railway vehicle-track system model with linear and nonlinear track properties in the presence of wheel flats

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Uzzal, R. U. A.; Ahmed, A. K. W.; Bhat, R. B.

    2013-11-01

    This paper presents dynamic contact loads at wheel-rail contact point in a three-dimensional railway vehicle-track model as well as dynamic response at vehicle-track component levels in the presence of wheel flats. The 17-degrees of freedom lumped mass vehicle is modelled as a full car body, two bogies and four wheelsets, whereas the railway track is modelled as two parallel Timoshenko beams periodically supported by lumped masses representing the sleepers. The rail beam is also supported by nonlinear spring and damper elements representing the railpad and ballast. In order to ensure the interactions between the railpads, a shear parameter beneath the rail beams has also been considered into the model. The wheel-rail contact is modelled using nonlinear Hertzian contact theory. In order to solve the coupled partial and ordinary differential equations of the vehicle-track system, modal analysis method is employed. Idealised Haversine wheel flats with the rounded corner are included in the wheel-rail contact model. The developed model is validated with the existing measured and analytical data available in the literature. The nonlinear model is then employed to investigate the wheel-rail impact forces that arise in the wheel-rail interface due to the presence of wheel flats. The validated model is further employed to investigate the dynamic responses of vehicle and track components in terms of displacement, velocity, and acceleration in the presence of single wheel flat.

  19. Experiments in a real scale maglev vehicle prototype

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sotelo, G. G.; Dias, D. H. N.; Machado, O. J.; David, E. D.; de Andrade, R., Jr.; Stephan, R. M.; Costa, G. C.

    2010-06-01

    A Brazilian real scale magnetically levitated transport system prototype is under development at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. To test this system a 180 m long line has been projected and it will be concluded by the end of 2010. A superconducting linear bearing (SLB) is used to replace the wheels of a conventional train. High temperature superconductor bulks placed inside cryostats attached to the vehicle and a magnetic rail composes the SLB. To choose the magnetic rail for the test line three different rails, selected in a previous simulation work, were built and tested. They are composed by Nd-Fe-B and steel, arranged in a flux concentrator topology. The magnetic flux density for those magnetic rails was mapped. Also, the levitation force between those rails and the superconductor cryostat, for several cooling gaps, were measured to select the best rail geometry to be used in the real scale line. The SLB allows building a light vehicle with distributed load, silent and high energy efficient. The proposed vehicle is composed of four modules with just 1.5 m of length each one and it can transport up to 24 passengers. The test line having two curves with 45 m radius and a 15% acclivity ramp is also presented.

  20. A linear complementarity method for the solution of vertical vehicle-track interaction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Jian; Gao, Qiang; Wu, Feng; Zhong, Wan-Xie

    2018-02-01

    A new method is proposed for the solution of the vertical vehicle-track interaction including a separation between wheel and rail. The vehicle is modelled as a multi-body system using rigid bodies, and the track is treated as a three-layer beam model in which the rail is considered as an Euler-Bernoulli beam and both the sleepers and the ballast are represented by lumped masses. A linear complementarity formulation is directly established using a combination of the wheel-rail normal contact condition and the generalised-α method. This linear complementarity problem is solved using the Lemke algorithm, and the wheel-rail contact force can be obtained. Then the dynamic responses of the vehicle and the track are solved without iteration based on the generalised-α method. The same equations of motion for the vehicle and track are adopted at the different wheel-rail contact situations. This method can remove some restrictions, that is, time-dependent mass, damping and stiffness matrices of the coupled system, multiple equations of motion for the different contact situations and the effect of the contact stiffness. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective for simulating the vehicle-track interaction including a separation between wheel and rail.

  1. Double row loop-coil configuration for high-speed electrodynamic maglev suspension, guidance, propulsion and guideway directional switching

    DOEpatents

    He, Jianliang; Rote, Donald M.

    1996-01-01

    A stabilization and propulsion system comprising a series of loop-coils arranged in parallel rows wherein two rows combine to form one of two magnetic rails. Levitation and lateral stability are provided when the induced field in the magnetic rails interacts with the superconducting magnets mounted on the magnetic levitation vehicle. The loop-coils forming the magnetic rails have specified dimensions and a specified number of turns and by constructing differently these specifications, for one rail with respect to the other, the angle of tilt of the vehicle can be controlled during directional switching. Propulsion is provided by the interaction of a traveling magnetic wave associated with the coils forming the rails and the super conducting magnets on the vehicle.

  2. Double row loop-coil configuration for high-speed electrodynamic maglev suspension, guidance, propulsion and guideway directional switching

    DOEpatents

    He, J.; Rote, D.M.

    1996-05-21

    A stabilization and propulsion system are disclosed comprising a series of loop-coils arranged in parallel rows wherein two rows combine to form one of two magnetic rails. Levitation and lateral stability are provided when the induced field in the magnetic rails interacts with the superconducting magnets mounted on the magnetic levitation vehicle. The loop-coils forming the magnetic rails have specified dimensions and a specified number of turns and by constructing differently these specifications, for one rail with respect to the other, the angle of tilt of the vehicle can be controlled during directional switching. Propulsion is provided by the interaction of a traveling magnetic wave associated with the coils forming the rails and the superconducting magnets on the vehicle. 12 figs.

  3. How shift scheduling practices contribute to fatigue amongst freight rail operating employees: Findings from Canadian accident investigations.

    PubMed

    Rudin-Brown, Christina M; Harris, Sarah; Rosberg, Ari

    2018-02-01

    Canada's freight rail system moves 70% of the country's surface goods and almost half of all exports (RAC, 2016). These include dangerous goods. Anonymous survey of freight rail operating employees conducted by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC, 2014) revealed that many do not report getting enough sleep because of their work schedules, and that fatigue may be affecting their performance at work. Besides general impairments in attention and cognitive functioning, fatigue in railway operating employees slows reaction time to safety alarms and impairs conformance to train operating requirements. Shift scheduling practices can contribute to sleep-related fatigue by restricting sleep opportunities, requiring extended periods of wakefulness and by disrupting daily (circadian) rhythms. The primary goal of accident investigation is to identify causal and contributing factors so that similar occurrences can be prevented. A database search of Transportation Safety Board (TSB) rail investigation reports published in the 21-year period from 1995 to 2015 identified 18 that cited sleep-related fatigue of freight rail operating employees as a causal, contributing, or risk finding. This number represents about 20% of TSB rail investigations from the same period in which a human factors aspect of freight train activities was a primary cause. Exploration of accident themes suggests that management of fatigue and shift scheduling in the freight rail industry is a complex issue that is often not conducive to employee circadian rhythms and sleep requirements. It also suggests that current shift scheduling and fatigue management practices may be insufficient to mitigate the associated safety risk. Railway fatigue management systems that are based on the principles of modern sleep science are needed to improve scheduling practices and mitigate the ongoing safety risk. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Rail damage in a solid-armature rail gun. Final report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Brassard, T.; Homan, C.G.

    1987-12-01

    Plasma-arc-drive rail guns operate by forming a high-temperature plasma behind the projectile using a thin metal fuze. These systems achieve the highest projectile velocities (about 12 km /sec), since the driving force includes a substantial plasma pressure as well as the electromagnetic or Lorentz force. Unfortunately, severe rail damage occurs primarily from the intense temperatures generated by the plasma arc and the wiping motion of the armature itself. The solid-armature gun replaces the plasma armature with a conducting metal armature. Since the plasma arcing is reduced or eliminated, the projectiles are accelerated mainly by the Lorentz force. Thus, solid armaturemore » rail guns operate at lower projectile velocities. The important tradeoff is that there is a substantial reduction in rail damage for metal armature projectiles. The elimination of the plasma force limits projectile velocities in the metal-armature rail guns. A more-subtle limit is the speed at which the commutation process can take place. Although the latter limit is still not well understood, experimental evidence indicates a commutation limit may occur near 6 to 7 km/sec. This velocity limit is still attractive for Army tactical missions for rail guns. The actual rail damage occurring with two types of metal armatures, wire brush contactors and monolithic metal contactors, and new developments in barrel technology, such as superconducting augmentation, are presented in this report.« less

  5. 36 CFR § 1192.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... VEHICLES Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall provide a level-change...

  6. 36 CFR 1192.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall provide a level-change mechanism or...

  7. 36 CFR 1192.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall provide a level-change mechanism or...

  8. Combustibility of Electrical Wire and Cable for Rail Rapid Transit Systems. Volume 1. Flammability.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-05-01

    The objective of this study was to examine the flammability of wires and cables used in rapid rail transit systems. The overall goal of the study was to quantify the fire properties of wires and cables in a manner so that the relative fire hazards co...

  9. Combustibility of Electrical Wire and Cable for Rail Rapid Transit Systems. Volume 2. Toxicity.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-05-01

    The objective of this study was to examine the flammability of wires and cables used in rapid rail transit systems. The overall goal of the study was to quantify the fire properties of wires and cables in a manner so that the relative fire hazards co...

  10. 75 FR 20420 - Privacy Act of 1974: System of Records

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-19

    ... project are covered by this system of records. These individuals are employees of three rail carriers participating in the C\\3\\RS demonstration project. The rail carriers are: Union Pacific Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railroad, and New Jersey Transit. The C\\3\\RS demonstration project is a research effort to improve...

  11. Safety of High Speed Guided Ground Transportation Systems: Potential Health Effects of Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields Due to Maglev and Other Electric Rail Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1993-08-01

    The safety of magnetically-levitated (maglev) and high-speed rail (HSR) trains proposed for use in the United States is : the responsibility of the Federal Railroad Administration. There are concerns for physical safety associated with : equipment op...

  12. 36 CFR 1192.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall provide a level-change mechanism or...

  13. 49 CFR 38.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 38.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall...

  14. 36 CFR 1192.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... mechanical, electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3... Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.95 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All new commuter rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall provide a level-change mechanism or...

  15. The 2055 freight transportation system and the impact of near term rail improvements on TxDOT planning : project management plan.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-03-01

    The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is the sponsor of the project. The : project goals are to: (1) produce a framework for Texas freight transportation system in : 2055 and (2) develop a set of rail planning recommendations that will be...

  16. The 2055 freight transportation system and the impact of near term rail improvements on TXDOT planning project management plan.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-03-01

    The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is the sponsor of the project. The : project goals are to: (1) produce a framework for Texas freight transportation system in : 2055 and (2) develop a set of rail planning recommendations that will be...

  17. 49 CFR Appendix D to Part 172 - Rail Risk Analysis Factors

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... nature of the rail system, each carrier must select and document the analysis method/model used and identify the routes to be analyzed. D. The safety and security risk analysis must consider current data and... curvature; 7. Presence or absence of signals and train control systems along the route (“dark” versus...

  18. National Assessment of Urban Rail Noise

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1979-03-01

    This report summarizes seven individual noise assessments of the urban rail transit systems in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Lindenwold (N.J.), Cleveland, Chicago, and San Francisco. The assessments were performed by DOT and contractor researc...

  19. Energy intensity of intercity passenger rail.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1977-12-01

    This research report deals with the Energy Intensity of Intercity Rail Passenger : Systems. Included in the energy evaluation are the impacts of operating conditions : (speed, load factor) and train consists. The report also documents an : extensive ...

  20. Rail-Highway Crossing Resource Allocation Model

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-04-01

    This report describes a methodology developed at the Transportation Systems Center for the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Highway Administration to aid in determining the most effective allocation of funds to improve safety at rail-h...

  1. Progress in rail integrity research

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-10-01

    This report describes the work conducted over the past two decades on rail integrity research sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and carried out by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. The research has involved both e...

  2. The growth of railway ground vibration problems - A review.

    PubMed

    Connolly, David P; Marecki, Grzegorz P; Kouroussis, Georges; Thalassinakis, Ioannis; Woodward, Peter K

    2016-10-15

    Ground-borne noise and vibration from railway lines can cause human distress/annoyance, and also negatively affect real estate property values. Therefore this paper analyses a collection of technical ground-borne noise and vibration reports, detailing commercial vibration assessments undertaken at 1604 railway track sections, in 9 countries across the world. A wide range of rail projects are considered including light rail, tram lines, underground/tunnelled lines, freight, conventional rail and high speed rail. It documents the rise in ground-borne vibration problems and trends in the prediction industry, with the aim of informing the current research area. Firstly, the reports are analysed chronologically and it is found that railway vibration is a growing global concern, and as such, assessments have become more prevalent. International assessment metrics are benchmarked and it is found that velocity decibels (VdB), vibration dose value (VDV) and peak particle velocity (PPV) are the most commonly used methods of assessment. Furthermore, to predict vibration levels, the physical measurement of frequency transfer functions is preferential to numerical modelling. Results from the reports show that ground vibration limits are exceeded in 44% of assessments, and that ground-borne noise limits are exceeded in 31%. Moreover, mitigation measures were required on approximately 50% of projects, revealing that ground-borne noise and vibration is a widespread railroad engineering challenge. To solve these problems, the most commonly used abatement strategy is a modification of the railtrack structure (active mitigation), rather than the implementation of a more passive solution in the far-field. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. A rail system for circular synthetic aperture sonar imaging and acoustic target strength measurements: design/operation/preliminary results.

    PubMed

    Kennedy, J L; Marston, T M; Lee, K; Lopes, J L; Lim, R

    2014-01-01

    A 22 m diameter circular rail, outfitted with a mobile sonar tower trolley, was designed, fabricated, instrumented with underwater acoustic transducers, and assembled on a 1.5 m thick sand layer at the bottom of a large freshwater pool to carry out sonar design and target scattering response studies. The mobile sonar tower translates along the rail via a drive motor controlled by customized LabVIEW software. The rail system is modular and assembly consists of separately deploying eight circular arc sections, measuring a nominal center radius of 11 m and 8.64 m arc length each, and having divers connect them together in the underwater environment. The system enables full scale measurements on targets of interest with 0.1° angular resolution over a complete 360° aperture, without disrupting target setup, and affording a level of control over target environment conditions and noise sources unachievable in standard field measurements. In recent use, the mobile cart carrying an instrumented sonar tower was translated along the rail in 720 equal position increments and acoustic backscatter data were acquired at each position. In addition, this system can accommodate both broadband monostatic and bistatic scattering measurements on targets of interest, allowing capture of target signature phenomena under diverse configurations to address current scientific and technical issues encountered in mine countermeasure and unexploded ordnance applications. In the work discussed here, the circular rail apparatus is used for acoustic backscatter testing, but this system also has the capacity to facilitate the acquisition of magnetic and optical sensor data from targets of interest. A brief description of the system design and operation will be presented along with preliminary processed results for data acquired from acoustic measurements conducted at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division Test Pond Facility. [Work Supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.].

  4. A rail system for circular synthetic aperture sonar imaging and acoustic target strength measurements: Design/operation/preliminary results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kennedy, J. L.; Marston, T. M.; Lee, K.; Lopes, J. L.; Lim, R.

    2014-01-01

    A 22 m diameter circular rail, outfitted with a mobile sonar tower trolley, was designed, fabricated, instrumented with underwater acoustic transducers, and assembled on a 1.5 m thick sand layer at the bottom of a large freshwater pool to carry out sonar design and target scattering response studies. The mobile sonar tower translates along the rail via a drive motor controlled by customized LabVIEW software. The rail system is modular and assembly consists of separately deploying eight circular arc sections, measuring a nominal center radius of 11 m and 8.64 m arc length each, and having divers connect them together in the underwater environment. The system enables full scale measurements on targets of interest with 0.1° angular resolution over a complete 360° aperture, without disrupting target setup, and affording a level of control over target environment conditions and noise sources unachievable in standard field measurements. In recent use, the mobile cart carrying an instrumented sonar tower was translated along the rail in 720 equal position increments and acoustic backscatter data were acquired at each position. In addition, this system can accommodate both broadband monostatic and bistatic scattering measurements on targets of interest, allowing capture of target signature phenomena under diverse configurations to address current scientific and technical issues encountered in mine countermeasure and unexploded ordnance applications. In the work discussed here, the circular rail apparatus is used for acoustic backscatter testing, but this system also has the capacity to facilitate the acquisition of magnetic and optical sensor data from targets of interest. A brief description of the system design and operation will be presented along with preliminary processed results for data acquired from acoustic measurements conducted at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division Test Pond Facility. [Work Supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.

  5. Design Considerations and Experimental Verification of a Rail Brake Armature Based on Linear Induction Motor Technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sakamoto, Yasuaki; Kashiwagi, Takayuki; Hasegawa, Hitoshi; Sasakawa, Takashi; Fujii, Nobuo

    This paper describes the design considerations and experimental verification of an LIM rail brake armature. In order to generate power and maximize the braking force density despite the limited area between the armature and the rail and the limited space available for installation, we studied a design method that is suitable for designing an LIM rail brake armature; we considered adoption of a ring winding structure. To examine the validity of the proposed design method, we developed a prototype ring winding armature for the rail brakes and examined its electromagnetic characteristics in a dynamic test system with roller rigs. By repeating various tests, we confirmed that unnecessary magnetic field components, which were expected to be present under high speed running condition or when a ring winding armature was used, were not present. Further, the necessary magnetic field component and braking force attained the desired values. These studies have helped us to develop a basic design method that is suitable for designing the LIM rail brake armatures.

  6. A survey of wheel-rail contact models for rail vehicles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meymand, Sajjad Z.; Keylin, Alexander; Ahmadian, Mehdi

    2016-03-01

    Accurate and efficient contact models for wheel-rail interaction are essential for the study of the dynamic behaviour of a railway vehicle. Assessment of the contact forces and moments, as well as contact geometry provide a fundamental foundation for such tasks as design of braking and traction control systems, prediction of wheel and rail wear, and evaluation of ride safety and comfort. This paper discusses the evolution and the current state of the theories for solving the wheel-rail contact problem for rolling stock. The well-known theories for modelling both normal contact (Hertzian and non-Hertzian) and tangential contact (Kalker's linear theory, FASTSIM, CONTACT, Polach's theory, etc.) are reviewed. The paper discusses the simplifying assumptions for developing these models and compares their functionality. The experimental studies for evaluation of contact models are also reviewed. This paper concludes with discussing open areas in contact mechanics that require further research for developing better models to represent the wheel-rail interaction.

  7. Particulate matter (PM) concentrations in underground and ground-level rail systems of the Los Angeles Metro

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kam, Winnie; Cheung, Kalam; Daher, Nancy; Sioutas, Constantinos

    2011-03-01

    Elevated concentrations of particulate matter (PM) have been found in a number of worldwide underground transit systems, with major implications regarding exposure of commuters to PM and its associated health effects. An extensive sampling campaign was conducted in May-August 2010 to measure PM concentrations in two lines of the Los Angeles Metro system - an underground subway line (Metro red line) and a ground-level light-rail line (Metro gold line). The campaign goals were to: 1) determine personal PM exposure of commuters of both lines, and 2) measure and compare PM concentrations at station platforms and inside the train. Considering that a commuter typically spent 75% of time inside the train and 25% of time waiting at a station, subway commuters were exposed on average to PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations that were 1.9 and 1.8 times greater than the light-rail commuters. The average PM 10 concentrations for the subway line at station platforms and inside the train were 78.0 μg m -3 and 31.5 μg m -3, respectively; for the light-rail line, corresponding PM 10 concentrations were 38.2 μg m -3 and 16.2 μg m -3. Regression analysis demonstrated that personal exposure concentrations for the light-rail line are strongly associated with ambient PM levels ( R2 = 0.61), while PM concentrations for the subway line are less influenced by ambient conditions ( R2 = 0.38) and have a relatively stable background level of about 21 μg m -3. Our findings suggest that local emissions (i.e., vehicular traffic, road dust) are the main source of airborne PM for the light-rail line. The subway line, on the other hand, has an additional source of PM, most likely generated from the daily operation of trains. Strong inter-correlation of PM 10 between the train and station microenvironments shows that airborne PM at stations are the main source of PM inside the trains for both lines ( R2 = 0.91 and 0.81 for subway and light-rail line, respectively). In addition, PM 2.5 and coarse PM (PM 10-2.5) are also strongly correlated for the subway line ( R2 = 0.89) and the light-rail line ( R2 = 0.52-0.92), suggesting that PM 2.5 and coarse PM originate from a common source. Finally, in comparison to worldwide subway systems, the L.A. Metro system is relatively 'clean'. Since the system is comparatively new (in operation since 1993), its ventilation system and braking technology are probably more efficient and more advanced than older subway systems.

  8. Rail vehicle qualification test compendium.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-02-01

    Qualification and acceptance testing and analysis for new passenger rail vehicles for transit systems has been specified by the transit/commuter agency for which the cars will be supplied to and/or by government agencies. Regulatory testing defined b...

  9. Rail-highway crossing accident prediction research results - FY80

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-01-01

    This report presents the results of research performed at the : Transportation Systems Center (TSC) dealing with mathematical : methods of predicting accidents at rail-highway crossings. The : work consists of three parts : Part I - Revised DOT Accid...

  10. Illinois high-speed rail four-quadrant gate reliability assessment

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-10-01

    The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) tasked the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) to conduct a reliability analysis of the four-quadrant gate/vehicle detection equipment installed on the future high-speed rail (...

  11. Method of fabricating a cooled electronic system

    DOEpatents

    Chainer, Timothy J; Gaynes, Michael A; Graybill, David P; Iyengar, Madhusudan K; Kamath, Vinod; Kochuparambil, Bejoy J; Schmidt, Roger R; Schultz, Mark D; Simco, Daniel P; Steinke, Mark E

    2014-02-11

    A method of fabricating a liquid-cooled electronic system is provided which includes an electronic assembly having an electronics card and a socket with a latch at one end. The latch facilitates securing of the card within the socket. The method includes providing a liquid-cooled cold rail at the one end of the socket, and a thermal spreader to couple the electronics card to the cold rail. The thermal spreader includes first and second thermal transfer plates coupled to first and second surfaces on opposite sides of the card, and thermally conductive extensions extending from end edges of the plates, which couple the respective transfer plates to the liquid-cooled cold rail. The extensions are disposed to the sides of the latch, and the card is securable within or removable from the socket using the latch without removing the cold rail or the thermal spreader.

  12. Has successful terror gone to ground?

    PubMed

    Barnett, Arnold

    2015-04-01

    This article considers all 87 attacks worldwide against air and rail transport systems that killed at least two passengers over the 30-year period of 1982-2011. The data offer strong and statistically significant evidence that successful acts of terror have "gone to ground" in recent years: attacks against aviation were concentrated early in the three decades studied whereas those against rail were concentrated later. Recent data are used to make estimates of absolute and comparative risk for frequent flyers and subway/rail commuters. Point estimates in the "status quo" case imply that mortality risk from successful acts of terror was very low on both modes of transportation and that, whereas risk per trip is higher for air travelers than subway/rail commuters, the rail commuters experience greater risk per year than the frequent flyers. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

  13. 36 CFR § 1192.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ..., electrical or other system operates to ensure that cars do not move when the lift is in use. (3) Emergency... VEHICLES Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by § 1192.111 (a) and (e) of...

  14. 49 CFR 214.525 - Towing with on-track roadway maintenance machines or hi-rail vehicles.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... other coupling device that provides a safe and secure attachment. (b) An on-track roadway maintenance... towing would cause the machine or hi-rail vehicle to exceed the capabilities of its braking system. In determining the limit of the braking system, the employer must consider the track grade (slope), as well as...

  15. 49 CFR 214.525 - Towing with on-track roadway maintenance machines or hi-rail vehicles.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... other coupling device that provides a safe and secure attachment. (b) An on-track roadway maintenance... towing would cause the machine or hi-rail vehicle to exceed the capabilities of its braking system. In determining the limit of the braking system, the employer must consider the track grade (slope), as well as...

  16. Energy Ambiguity and the Inductive Rail Oscillator

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hecking, Patrick C.

    2007-01-01

    In electric or mixed electric-mechanic systems, the distinction between potential and kinetic energy is not as clear as in purely mechanical systems. A solution for the motion of an inductively loaded rail generator is presented. In this case, the magnetic field energy (1/2)Li[superscript 2] can be written "formally" in terms of a potential…

  17. Complex Network Theory Applied to the Growth of Kuala Lumpur's Public Urban Rail Transit Network.

    PubMed

    Ding, Rui; Ujang, Norsidah; Hamid, Hussain Bin; Wu, Jianjun

    2015-01-01

    Recently, the number of studies involving complex network applications in transportation has increased steadily as scholars from various fields analyze traffic networks. Nonetheless, research on rail network growth is relatively rare. This research examines the evolution of the Public Urban Rail Transit Networks of Kuala Lumpur (PURTNoKL) based on complex network theory and covers both the topological structure of the rail system and future trends in network growth. In addition, network performance when facing different attack strategies is also assessed. Three topological network characteristics are considered: connections, clustering and centrality. In PURTNoKL, we found that the total number of nodes and edges exhibit a linear relationship and that the average degree stays within the interval [2.0488, 2.6774] with heavy-tailed distributions. The evolutionary process shows that the cumulative probability distribution (CPD) of degree and the average shortest path length show good fit with exponential distribution and normal distribution, respectively. Moreover, PURTNoKL exhibits clear cluster characteristics; most of the nodes have a 2-core value, and the CPDs of the centrality's closeness and betweenness follow a normal distribution function and an exponential distribution, respectively. Finally, we discuss four different types of network growth styles and the line extension process, which reveal that the rail network's growth is likely based on the nodes with the biggest lengths of the shortest path and that network protection should emphasize those nodes with the largest degrees and the highest betweenness values. This research may enhance the networkability of the rail system and better shape the future growth of public rail networks.

  18. Rail vs truck transport of biomass.

    PubMed

    Mahmudi, Hamed; Flynn, Peter C

    2006-01-01

    This study analyzes the economics of transshipping biomass from truck to train in a North American setting. Transshipment will only be economic when the cost per unit distance of a second transportation mode is less than the original mode. There is an optimum number of transshipment terminals which is related to biomass yield. Transshipment incurs incremental fixed costs, and hence there is a minimum shipping distance for rail transport above which lower costs/km offset the incremental fixed costs. For transport by dedicated unit train with an optimum number of terminals, the minimum economic rail shipping distance for straw is 170 km, and for boreal forest harvest residue wood chips is 145 km. The minimum economic shipping distance for straw exceeds the biomass draw distance for economically sized centrally located power plants, and hence the prospects for rail transport are limited to cases in which traffic congestion from truck transport would otherwise preclude project development. Ideally, wood chip transport costs would be lowered by rail transshipment for an economically sized centrally located power plant, but in a specific case in Alberta, Canada, the layout of existing rail lines precludes a centrally located plant supplied by rail, whereas a more versatile road system enables it by truck. Hence for wood chips as well as straw the economic incentive for rail transport to centrally located processing plants is limited. Rail transshipment may still be preferred in cases in which road congestion precludes truck delivery, for example as result of community objections.

  19. A dynamic wheel-rail impact analysis of railway track under wheel flat by finite element analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bian, Jian; Gu, Yuantong; Murray, Martin Howard

    2013-06-01

    Wheel-rail interaction is one of the most important research topics in railway engineering. It involves track impact response, track vibration and track safety. Track structure failures caused by wheel-rail impact forces can lead to significant economic loss for track owners through damage to rails and to the sleepers beneath. Wheel-rail impact forces occur because of imperfections in the wheels or rails such as wheel flats, irregular wheel profiles, rail corrugations and differences in the heights of rails connected at a welded joint. A wheel flat can cause a large dynamic impact force as well as a forced vibration with a high frequency, which can cause damage to the track structure. In the present work, a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model for the impact analysis induced by the wheel flat is developed by the use of the FE analysis (FEA) software package ANSYS and validated by another validated simulation. The effect of wheel flats on impact forces is thoroughly investigated. It is found that the presence of a wheel flat will significantly increase the dynamic impact force on both rail and sleeper. The impact force will monotonically increase with the size of wheel flats. The relationships between the impact force and the wheel flat size are explored from this FEA and they are important for track engineers to improve their understanding of the design and maintenance of the track system.

  20. 35. DETAIL OF COMPLETE APRONTOFLOAT LOCKING MECHANISM AND RAILS ON ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    35. DETAIL OF COMPLETE APRON-TO-FLOAT LOCKING MECHANISM AND RAILS ON BRIDGE NO. 11. LOOKING NORTH. - Greenville Yard, Transfer Bridge System, Port of New York/New Jersey, Upper New York Bay, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

  1. Measurement of vertical track deflection from a moving rail car.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-02-01

    The University of Nebraska has been conducting research sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administrations Office of Research and Development to develop a system that measures vertical track deflection/modulus from a moving rail car. Previous work ...

  2. Performance of Rail Fastening Systems on an Open-Deck Bridge

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2018-02-01

    Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) monitored the performance of rail fasteners on an open-deck bridge and its approaches, located at Norfolk Southern Corporations (NS's) eastern mega site. The project was co-sponsored by the Federal Rai...

  3. Implementation Guidelines for State Safety Oversight of Rail Fixed Guideway Systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-06-01

    These guidelines will assist states, oversight agencies, and rail transit agencies in developing safety and security programs to satisfy the requirements of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). These requirements were published in the Federal Re...

  4. High-speed and intercity passenger rail testing strategy.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-05-01

    This high-speed and intercity passenger rail (HSIPR) testing strategy addresses the requirements for testing of high-speed train sets and technology before introduction to the North American railroad system. The report documents the results of a surv...

  5. On-line high-speed rail defect detection, phase III : research results.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-10-01

    The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Research and Developments Track and Structures Program sponsored a study for developing and testing a rail defect detection system based on ultrasonic guided waves and non-contact probing. Curren...

  6. Recommended emergency preparedness guidelines for elderly and disabled rail-transit passengers. Final report, November 1987-March 1989

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hathaway, W.T.; Markos, S.H.; Balog, J.N.

    1989-08-01

    Rail transit has become an important source of transportation for many elderly and disabled persons. The principal reasons for the increased use are improved accessibility, low cost, and expanded areas of service. For the purposes of the report, 'elderly' is defined as any member of the population who is 60 years of age or older, and 'disabled' is defined as any person who has some type of disability. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) has recognized the need to consider the unique characteristics of elderly and disabled passengers in rail-transit emergency response planning. The needs of these passengers can bemore » addressed through carefully planned emergency response procedures, proper training of transit and emergency-response personnel, and effective use of equipment. The recommendations contained herein are therefore intended to assist rail-transit and emergency response organization personnel in evaluating their emergency response plans in terms of the needs of elderly and disabled passengers and, if necessary, to modify or supplement those plans accordingly. The report is intended to supplement the UMTA publication Recommended Emergency Preparedness Guidelines for Rail Transit Systems. That report contains general guidelines designed to assist rail-transit systems in assessing, developing, documenting, and improving their capabilities for responding to emergencies and in coordinating those efforts with emergency response organizations.« less

  7. A locomotive-track coupled vertical dynamics model with gear transmissions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Zaigang; Zhai, Wanming; Wang, Kaiyun

    2017-02-01

    A gear transmission system is a key element in a locomotive for the transmission of traction or braking forces between the motor and the wheel-rail interface. Its dynamic performance has a direct effect on the operational reliability of the locomotive and its components. This paper proposes a comprehensive locomotive-track coupled vertical dynamics model, in which the locomotive is driven by axle-hung motors. In this coupled dynamics model, the dynamic interactions between the gear transmission system and the other components, e.g. motor and wheelset, are considered based on the detailed analysis of its structural properties and working mechanism. Thus, the mechanical transmission system for power delivery from the motor to the wheelset via gear transmission is coupled with a traditional locomotive-track dynamics system via the wheel-rail contact interface and the gear mesh interface. This developed dynamics model enables investigations of the dynamic performance of the entire dynamics system under the excitations from the wheel-rail contact interface and/or the gear mesh interface. Dynamic interactions are demonstrated by numerical simulations using this dynamics model. The results indicate that both of the excitations from the wheel-rail contact interface and the gear mesh interface have a significant effect on the dynamic responses of the components in this coupled dynamics system.

  8. Development of design principles for automated systems in transport control.

    PubMed

    Balfe, Nora; Wilson, John R; Sharples, Sarah; Clarke, Theresa

    2012-01-01

    This article reports the results of a qualitative study investigating attitudes towards and opinions of an advanced automation system currently used in UK rail signalling. In-depth interviews were held with 10 users, key issues associated with automation were identified and the automation's impact on the signalling task investigated. The interview data highlighted the importance of the signallers' understanding of the automation and their (in)ability to predict its outputs. The interviews also covered the methods used by signallers to interact with and control the automation, and the perceived effects on their workload. The results indicate that despite a generally low level of understanding and ability to predict the actions of the automation system, signallers have developed largely successful coping mechanisms that enable them to use the technology effectively. These findings, along with parallel work identifying desirable attributes of automation from the literature in the area, were used to develop 12 principles of automation which can be used to help design new systems which better facilitate cooperative working. The work reported in this article was completed with the active involvement of operational rail staff who regularly use automated systems in rail signalling. The outcomes are currently being used to inform decisions on the extent and type of automation and user interfaces in future generations of rail control systems.

  9. Development of a vehicle-track model assembly and numerical method for simulation of wheel-rail dynamic interaction due to unsupported sleepers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Jian Jun; Ahmed, A. K. W.; Rakheja, Subhash; Khajepour, Amir

    2010-12-01

    In practice, it is not very uncommon to find railway track systems with unsupported sleepers due to the uneven settlement of a ballasted track system. These unsupported sleepers are among the major vibration excitations for a train and track system when a train moves forwards on a track. The vibration induced by unsupported sleepers can cause a large dynamic contact force between wheels and rails. For heavily loaded high-speed trains, the deteriorated sleeper support may lead to accelerated degradation of the railway track and vehicle components, and may thus impose safety risk to the operation. This paper presents analyses of a coupled vehicle-track assembly consisting of a roll plane vehicle model, a continuous track system model and an adaptive wheel-rail contact model. In order to improve the simulation efficiency, a numerical approach based on the central finite difference method is proposed in this investigation. The developed model assembly and proposed simulation method are utilised to simulate the vehicle-track dynamic interaction in the presence of unsupported sleepers. The dynamic response in terms of the dynamic wheel-rail interaction force due to one or multiple unsupported sleepers is studied. Important factors influencing the dynamic wheel-rail interaction force in the presence of sleeper voids are also investigated. The results show that the vehicle speed, the gap size and the number of unsupported sleepers primarily dictate the magnitude of impact load which can be significant.

  10. Linear and/or curvilinear rail mount system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thomas, Jackie D. (Inventor); Harris, Lawanna L. (Inventor)

    2012-01-01

    One or more linear and/or curvilinear mounting rails are coupled to a structure. Each mounting rail defines a channel and at least one cartridge assembly is engaged in the channel. Each cartridge assembly includes a housing that slides within the channel. The housing defines a curvilinearly-shaped recess longitudinally aligned with the channel when the housing is in engagement therewith. The cartridge assembly also includes a cleat fitted in the recess for sliding engagement therealong. The cleat can be coupled to a fastener that passes through the mounting rail and the housing when the housing is so-engaged in the channel. The cleat is positioned in the recess by a position of the fastener.

  11. General Vehicle Test Plan (GVTP) for Urban Rail Transit Cars

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1977-09-01

    The General Vehicle Test Plan provides a system for general vehicle testing and for documenting and utilizing data and information in the testing of urban rail transit cars. Test procedures are defined for nine categories: (1) Performance; (2) Power ...

  12. Integrated prioritization method for active and passive highway-rail crossings.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-01-01

    This two-year research project developed a prioritization system for highway-rail at-grade crossings that addressed the following major concerns: (1) warrants to identify low-volume, passive crossings with risk factors; (2) a broader priority index t...

  13. Development of a TL-3 deep beam tubular backup bridge rail.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-12-01

    The objective of this study is to investigate the performance of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Deep Beam bridge rail system per the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350 TL-3. Analytical study, computer simul...

  14. Highway-rail intersection GPS-based in-vehicle warning systems - literature review and recommendations.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-12-31

    In 2008, there were 2,395 incidents at highway-rail intersections (level crossings) in the United States, resulting in 939 injuries and 287 fatalities. Crossing elimination, grade separation, and the implementation of traditional warning devices are ...

  15. Formulating a strategy for securing high-speed rail in the United States.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-03-01

    This report presents an analysis of information relating to attacks, attempted attacks, and plots against high-speed rail (HSR) : systems. It draws upon empirical data from MTIs Database of Terrorist and Serious Criminal Attacks Against Public Sur...

  16. An assessment of high-speed rail safety issues and research needs

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1990-12-01

    The objectives of the study were to provide the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Research and Development with the following information: A general description and operating characteristics of high-speed rail systems likely to be installed i...

  17. Evaluation of the economic viability of narrow-gauge local rail systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-11-01

    The purpose of this project is to investigate and determine whether narrow-gauge local rail is a viable transportation alternative in Florida. A number of proposals for transit greenways have been developed for various communities throughout Florida....

  18. Iowa rail route alternatives analysis.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-06-01

    The development of new rail systems in the first part of the 21st century is the result of a wide range : of trends that are making it increasingly difficult to maintain regional mobility using the two : dominant intercity travel modes, auto and air....

  19. Analytical modelling of rail defects and its applications to rail defect management

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-01-01

    This report is the third in a three-part series describing the technical contributions of the Federal Railroad Administration and the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to the UIC/WEC (International Union of Railways/World Executive Council...

  20. 49 CFR 229.79 - Third rail shoes.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Third rail shoes. 229.79 Section 229.79 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY STANDARDS Safety Requirements Electrical System § 229...

  1. Track dynamic behavior at rail welds at high speed

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiao, Guangwen; Xiao, Xinbiao; Guo, Jun; Wen, Zefeng; Jin, Xuesong

    2010-06-01

    As a vehicle passing through a track with different weld irregularities, the dynamic performance of track components is investigated in detail by using a coupled vehicle-track model. In the model, the vehicle is modeled as a multi-body system with 35 degrees of freedom, and a Timoshenko beam is used to model the rails which are discretely supported by sleepers. In the track model, the sleepers are modeled as rigid bodies accounting for their vertical, lateral and rolling motions and assumed to move backward at a constant speed to simulate the vehicle running along the track at the same speed. In the study of the coupled vehicle and track dynamics, the Hertizian contact theory and the theory proposed by Shen-Hedrick-Elkins are, respectively, used to calculate normal and creep forces between the wheel and the rails. In the calculation of the normal forces, the coefficient of the normal contact stiffness is determined by transient contact condition of the wheel and rail surface. In the calculation of the creepages, the lateral, roll-over motions of the rail and the fact that the relative velocity between the wheel and rail in their common normal direction is equal to zero are simultaneously taken into account. The motion equations of the vehicle and track are solved by means of an explicit integration method, in which the rail weld irregularities are modeled as local track vertical deviations described by some ideal cosine functions. The effects of the train speed, the axle load, the wavelength and depth of the irregularities, and the weld center position in a sleeper span on the wheel-rail impact loading are analyzed. The numerical results obtained are greatly useful in the tolerance design of welded rail profile irregularity caused by hand-grinding after rail welding and track maintenances.

  2. Influence of Surface Abrasion on Creep and Shrinkage of Railway Prestressed Concrete Sleepers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Dan; Ngamkhanong, Chayut; Kaewunruen, Sakdirat

    2017-10-01

    Ballasted railway track is very suitable for heavy-rail networks because of its many superior advantages in design, construction, short- and long-term maintenance, sustainability, and life-cycle cost. The sleeper, which supports rail and distributes loads from rail to ballast, is a very important component of rail track system. Prestressed concrete is very popular used in manufacturing sleepers. Therefore, improved knowledge about design techniques for prestressed concrete (PC) sleepers has been developed. However, the ballast angularity causes differential abrasions on the soffit or bottom surface of sleepers. Furthermore, in sharp curves and rapid gradient change, longitudinal and lateral dynamics of rails increase the likelihood of abrasions in concrete sleepers. This paper presents a comparative investigation using a variety of methods to evaluate creep and shrinkage effects in railway prestressed concrete sleepers. The outcome of this study will improve the material design, which is very critical to the durability of railway track components.

  3. Dynamic Performance of Subway Vehicle with Linear Induction Motor System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Pingbo; Luo, Ren; Hu, Yan; Zeng, Jing

    The light rail vehicle with Linear Induction Motor (LIM) bogie, which is a new type of urban rail traffic tool, has the advantages of low costs, wide applicability, low noise, simple maintenance and better dynamic behavior. This kind of vehicle, supported and guided by the wheel and rail, is not driven by the wheel/rail adhesion force, but driven by the electromagnetic force between LIM and reaction plate. In this paper, three different types of suspensions and their characteristic are discussed with considering the interactions both between wheel and rail and between LIM and reaction plate. A nonlinear mathematical model of the vehicle with LIM bogie is set up by using the software SIMPACK, and the electromechanical model is also set up on Simulink roof. Then the running behavior of the LIM vehicle is simulated, and the influence of suspension on the vehicle dynamic performance is investigated.

  4. Signal processing for non-destructive testing of railway tracks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heckel, Thomas; Casperson, Ralf; Rühe, Sven; Mook, Gerhard

    2018-04-01

    Increased speed, heavier loads, altered material and modern drive systems result in an increasing number of rail flaws. The appearance of these flaws also changes continually due to the rapid change in damage mechanisms of modern rolling stock. Hence, interpretation has become difficult when evaluating non-destructive rail testing results. Due to the changed interplay between detection methods and flaws, the recorded signals may result in unclassified types of rail flaws. Methods for automatic rail inspection (according to defect detection and classification) undergo continual development. Signal processing is a key technology to master the challenge of classification and maintain resolution and detection quality, independent of operation speed. The basic ideas of signal processing, based on the Glassy-Rail-Diagram for classification purposes, are presented herein. Examples for the detection of damages caused by rolling contact fatigue also are given, and synergetic effects of combined evaluation of diverse inspection methods are shown.

  5. Analysis of torque transmitting behavior and wheel slip prevention control during regenerative braking for high speed EMU trains

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Kun; Xu, Guo-Qing; Zheng, Chun-Hua

    2016-04-01

    The wheel-rail adhesion control for regenerative braking systems of high speed electric multiple unit trains is crucial to maintaining the stability, improving the adhesion utilization, and achieving deep energy recovery. There remain technical challenges mainly because of the nonlinear, uncertain, and varying features of wheel-rail contact conditions. This research analyzes the torque transmitting behavior during regenerative braking, and proposes a novel methodology to detect the wheel-rail adhesion stability. Then, applications to the wheel slip prevention during braking are investigated, and the optimal slip ratio control scheme is proposed, which is based on a novel optimal reference generation of the slip ratio and a robust sliding mode control. The proposed methodology achieves the optimal braking performance without the wheel-rail contact information. Numerical simulation results for uncertain slippery rails verify the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

  6. Grade Crossing Protection in High-Speed, High-Density, Passenger-Service Rail Corridors

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1973-01-01

    The report is a preliminary examination of special aspects of grade crossing protection for operation of high-speed passenger trains in rail corridors for which complete grade separation is not possible. Overall system needs and constraints are indic...

  7. Providing wireless bandwidth for high-speed rail operations : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-07-01

    This project examined the possibility of providing wireless communication for train control systems on American high-speed trains. In this : study, the key issue is that the frequencies allocated for rail operations in the U.S. and the frequencies us...

  8. The Effects of Commuter Rail on Population Deconcentration and Commuting : A Salt Lake City Case Study

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-12-30

    All transportation systems have the ability to transform human settlement patterns, which can affect a range of social, economic and environmental issues. Considering investments in rail infrastructure have increased in recent decades (Bureau of Tran...

  9. Developing a reliable signal wire attachment method for rail.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-11-01

    The goal of this project was to develop a better attachment method for rail signal wires to improve the reliability of signaling : systems. EWI conducted basic research into the failure mode of current attachment methods and developed and tested a ne...

  10. 36 CFR § 1192.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... transportation system which operates with automated (driverless) individual vehicles or multi-car trains. Service... electric powered trolley buses, used to provide designated or specified public transportation services... more than 600 pounds when occupied. Commuter rail car means a rail passenger car obtained by a commuter...

  11. Wheel/Rail Force Measurement at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority - Phase II. Volume II. Test Report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-06-01

    In support of the Office of Rail and Construction Technology of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) is conducting analytical and experimental studies to relate transit truck design characteristics, wh...

  12. Experimental Investigation of Gauge Widening and Rail Restraint Characteristics

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1984-11-01

    Gauge widening resulting from a loss of adequate rail restraint is one of the major track failure modes and the cause of a large number of derailments. A recent field and laboratory test program conducted by the Transportation Systems Center aimed at...

  13. Wheel/Rail Force Measurement at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority - Phase II. Volume I. Analysis Report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-06-01

    In support of the Office of Rail and Construction Technology of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) is conducting analytical and experimental studies to relate transit truck design characteristics, wh...

  14. Noise Assessment of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Heavy Rail Transit System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1978-10-01

    The report describes the noise climate on and near the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, (SEPTA), Broad Street Subway and Market-Frankford Elevated Line. The two SEPTA urban rail transit lines have approximately 22.6 miles of two-wa...

  15. Automatic Fare Collection Equipment, Reliability and Maintainability Assessment Plan for Urban Rail Transit Properties

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-03-01

    This project was conducted as part of UMTA's Rail Transit Fare Collection Program developed by the Transportation Systems Center of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The report presents a generalized survey methodology for conducting assessments...

  16. Proceedings - International Conference on Wheel/Rail Load and Displacement Measurement Techniques : January 19-20, 1981

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-09-01

    Measurement of wheel/rail characteristics generates information for improvement of design tools such as model validation, establishment of load spectra and vehicle/track system interaction. Existing and new designs are assessed from evaluation of veh...

  17. The influence of service planning decisions on rail transit success or failure.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-06-01

    Some United States metropolitan areas with rail transit systems enjoy ridership and productivity success while : others do not. This study examines the experiences of 11 U.S. metropolitan areas with between onr million and : five million persons to b...

  18. Suicides on commuter rail in California : possible patterns-a case study.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-12-01

    Suicides on rail systems constitute a significant social concern. Reports in local media, whether in newspapers, television, or radio, have brought awareness to this very sensitive and personal subject. This is also true for the San Francisco Bay Are...

  19. Public transportation and intercity rail passenger plan for Washington state 1997-2016

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-12-01

    The Public Transportation and Intercity Rail Passenger Plan for Washington : State is a 20-year plan for preserving our current public transportation systems : while improving mobility for a growing population. The plan builds toward a : future in wh...

  20. Review on the Traction System Sensor Technology of a Rail Transit Train.

    PubMed

    Feng, Jianghua; Xu, Junfeng; Liao, Wu; Liu, Yong

    2017-06-11

    The development of high-speed intelligent rail transit has increased the number of sensors applied on trains. These play an important role in train state control and monitoring. These sensors generally work in a severe environment, so the key problem for sensor data acquisition is to ensure data accuracy and reliability. In this paper, we follow the sequence of sensor signal flow, present sensor signal sensing technology, sensor data acquisition, and processing technology, as well as sensor fault diagnosis technology based on the voltage, current, speed, and temperature sensors which are commonly used in train traction systems. Finally, intelligent sensors and future research directions of rail transit train sensors are discussed.

  1. Review on the Traction System Sensor Technology of a Rail Transit Train

    PubMed Central

    Feng, Jianghua; Xu, Junfeng; Liao, Wu; Liu, Yong

    2017-01-01

    The development of high-speed intelligent rail transit has increased the number of sensors applied on trains. These play an important role in train state control and monitoring. These sensors generally work in a severe environment, so the key problem for sensor data acquisition is to ensure data accuracy and reliability. In this paper, we follow the sequence of sensor signal flow, present sensor signal sensing technology, sensor data acquisition, and processing technology, as well as sensor fault diagnosis technology based on the voltage, current, speed, and temperature sensors which are commonly used in train traction systems. Finally, intelligent sensors and future research directions of rail transit train sensors are discussed. PMID:28604615

  2. Fire helps restore natural disturbance regime to benefit rare and endangered marsh birds endemic to the Colorado River.

    PubMed

    Conway, Courtney J; Nadeau, Christopher P; Piest, Linden

    2010-10-01

    Large flood events were part of the historical disturbance regime within the lower basin of most large river systems around the world. Large flood events are now rare in the lower basins of most large river systems due to flood control structures. Endemic organisms that are adapted to this historical disturbance regime have become less abundant due to these dramatic changes in the hydrology and the resultant changes in vegetation structure. The Yuma Clapper Rail is a federally endangered bird that breeds in emergent marshes within the lower Colorado River basin in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. We evaluated whether prescribed fire could be used as a surrogate disturbance event to help restore historical conditions for the benefit of Yuma Clapper Rails and four sympatric marsh-dependent birds. We conducted call-broadcast surveys for marsh birds within burned and unburned (control) plots both pre- and post-burn. Fire increased the numbers of Yuma Clapper Rails and Virginia Rails, and did not affect the numbers of Black Rails, Soras, and Least Bitterns. We found no evidence that detection probability of any of the five species differed between burn and control plots. Our results suggest that prescribed fire can be used to set back succession of emergent marshlands and help mimic the natural disturbance regime in the lower Colorado River basin. Hence, prescribed fire can be used to help increase Yuma Clapper Rail populations without adversely affecting sympatric species. Implementing a coordinated long-term fire management plan within marshes of the lower Colorado River may allow regulatory agencies to remove the Yuma Clapper Rail from the endangered species list.

  3. Fire helps restore natural disturbance regime to benefit rare and endangered marsh birds endemic to the Colorado River

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Conway, C.J.; Nadeau, C.P.; Piest, L.

    2010-01-01

    Large flood events were part of the historical disturbance regime within the lower basin of most large river systems around the world. Large flood events are now rare in the lower basins of most large river systems due to flood control structures. Endemic organisms that are adapted to this historical disturbance regime have become less abundant due to these dramatic changes in the hydrology and the resultant changes in vegetation structure. The Yuma Clapper Rail is a federally endangered bird that breeds in emergent marshes within the lower Colorado River basin in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. We evaluated whether prescribed fire could be used as a surrogate disturbance event to help restore historical conditions for the benefit of Yuma Clapper Rails and four sympatric marsh-dependent birds. We conducted call-broadcast surveys for marsh birds within burned and unburned (control) plots both pre-and post-burn. Fire increased the numbers of Yuma Clapper Rails and Virginia Rails, and did not affect the numbers of Black Rails, Soras, and Least Bitterns. We found no evidence that detection probability of any of the five species differed between burn and control plots. Our results suggest that prescribed fire can be used to set back succession of emergent marshlands and help mimic the natural disturbance regime in the lower Colorado River basin. Hence, prescribed fire can be used to help increase Yuma Clapper Rail populations without adversely affecting sympatric species. Implementing a coordinated long-term fire management plan within marshes of the lower Colorado River may allow regulatory agencies to remove the Yuma Clapper Rail from the endangered species list. ?? 2010 by the Ecological Society of America.

  4. 75 FR 10341 - Montoff Transportation Company, LLC-Acquisition Exemption-BNSF Railway Company

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-05

    ... facilitate the return of this rail-banked line to active rail service in a timely fashion.\\2\\ \\2\\ A more... System Act, 16 U.S.C. 1247(d). Montoff, ODOT, and BNSF have now reached an agreement that would return...

  5. Identification of priority rail projects for Texas : initial methodology/user manual and guidebook.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-05-01

    This project developed a system of evaluative tools for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to : prioritize its investments in rail-related projects on a statewide basis. This work is meant to ensure that the : limited available funding fo...

  6. Preliminary concept for statewide intercity bus and rail transit system : priority corridor ranking and analysis.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-03-01

    This product summarizes the preliminary concept and priority corridors for development of a potential : statewide intercity bus and rail network. The concept is based upon the results of Tasks 1 through 5 of Texas : Department of Transportation Proje...

  7. Improved Concrete Crosstie and Fastening Systems for US High Speed Passenger Rail and Joint Corridors : Volume 1, Project Summary Report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-11-01

    Rail corridors often experience a wide variety of passenger and freight train loads, track geometry characteristics, and environmental conditions. These factors must be considered when developing an optimized concrete crosstie and fastening sys...

  8. Passenger train emergency systems : single-level commuter rail car egress experiments

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-04-01

    Under FRA sponsorship, a series of three experimental egress trials was conducted in 2005 and 2006 to obtain human factors data relating to the amount of time necessary for individuals to exit from a passenger rail car. This final report describes th...

  9. Delivering real-time status and arrival information to commuter rail passengers at complex stations

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-08-01

    Software was developed for calculating real-time train status in an Automated Train Information Display System (ATIDS) at NJ Transit. Interfaces were developed for passing schedules and real-time train position and routing data from a rail traffic co...

  10. Simulation of Power Collection Dynamics for Simply Supported Power Rail

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1972-11-01

    The mathematical model of a sprung mass moving along a simply supported beam is used to analyze the dynamics of a power-collection system. A computer simulation of one-dimensional motion is used to demonstrate the phenomenon of collector-power rail i...

  11. Noise Assessment of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Heavy Rail Transit Authority

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1978-10-01

    The report describes the noise climate on and near the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA), formerly the Cleveland Transit System (CTS), Airport Line. The RTA urban rail transit line has approximately 19 miles of two-way revenue track ...

  12. Transportation impacts of the Chicago River closure to prevent an asian carp infestation.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-07-01

    This project develops a simple linear programming model of the Upper Midwest regions rail transportation network to test : whether a closure of the Chicago River to freight traffic would impact the capacity constraint of the rail system. The result :...

  13. Measurement of Wheel/Rail Forces at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Volume I. Analysis Report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-07-01

    Under the direction of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA), measurements of wheel/rail forces were made in August 1979 by the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) with the assistance of Battelle Columbus Laboratories to determine the c...

  14. 49 CFR 611.105 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... public transportation and other high occupancy vehicles, or uses a fixed catenary system and a right of... rail, commuter rail, automated guideway transit, people movers, ferry boat service, and fixed-guideway facilities for buses (such as bus rapid transit) and other high occupancy vehicles. A new fixed guideway...

  15. 49 CFR 611.105 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... public transportation and other high occupancy vehicles, or uses a fixed catenary system and a right of... rail, commuter rail, automated guideway transit, people movers, ferry boat service, and fixed-guideway facilities for buses (such as bus rapid transit) and other high occupancy vehicles. A new fixed guideway...

  16. A Control Simulation Method of High-Speed Trains on Railway Network with Irregular Influence

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Li-Xing; Li, Xiang; Li, Ke-Ping

    2011-09-01

    Based on the discrete time method, an effective movement control model is designed for a group of highspeed trains on a rail network. The purpose of the model is to investigate the specific traffic characteristics of high-speed trains under the interruption of stochastic irregular events. In the model, the high-speed rail traffic system is supposed to be equipped with the moving-block signalling system to guarantee maximum traversing capacity of the railway. To keep the safety of trains' movements, some operational strategies are proposed to control the movements of trains in the model, including traction operation, braking operation, and entering-station operation. The numerical simulations show that the designed model can well describe the movements of high-speed trains on the rail network. The research results can provide the useful information not only for investigating the propagation features of relevant delays under the irregular disturbance but also for rerouting and rescheduling trains on the rail network.

  17. On-rail solution for autonomous inspections in electrical substations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Silva, Bruno P. A.; Ferreira, Rafael A. M.; Gomes, Selson C.; Calado, Flavio A. R.; Andrade, Roberto M.; Porto, Matheus P.

    2018-05-01

    This work presents an alternative solution for autonomous inspections in electrical substations. The autonomous system is a robot that moves on rails, collects infrared and visible images of selected targets, also processes the data and predicts the components lifetime. The robot moves on rails to overcome difficulties found in not paved substations commonly encountered in Brazil. We take advantage of using rails to convey the data by them, minimizing the electromagnetic interference, and at the same time transmitting electrical energy to feed the autonomous system. As part of the quality control process, we compared thermographic inspections made by the robot with inspections made by a trained thermographer using a scientific camera Flir® SC660. The results have shown that the robot achieved satisfactory results, identifying components and measuring temperature accurately. The embodied routine considers the weather changes along the day, providing a standard result of the components thermal response, also gives the uncertainty of temperature measurement, contributing to the quality in the decision making process.

  18. Rail accelerator technology and applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zana, L. M.; Kerslake, W. R.

    1985-01-01

    Rail accelerators offer a viable means of launching ton-size payloads from the Earth's surface to space. The results of two mission studies which indicate that an Earth-to-Space Rail Launcher (ESRL) system is not only technically feasible but also economically beneficial, particularly when large amounts of bulk cago are to be delivered to space are given. An in-house experimental program at the Lewis Research Center (LeRC) was conducted in parallel with the mission studies with the objective of examining technical feasibility issues. A 1 m long - 12.5 by 12.5 mm bore rail accelerator as designed with clear polycarbonate sidewalls to visually observe the plasma armature acceleration. The general character of plasma/projectile dynamics is described for a typical test firing.

  19. A contact-area model for rail-pads connections in 2-D simulations: sensitivity analysis of train-induced vibrations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferrara, R.; Leonardi, G.; Jourdan, F.

    2013-09-01

    A numerical model to predict train-induced vibrations is presented. The dynamic computation considers mutual interactions in vehicle/track coupled systems by means of a finite and discrete elements method. The rail defects and the case of out-of-round wheels are considered. The dynamic interaction between the wheel-sets and the rail is accomplished by using the non-linear Hertzian model with hysteresis damping. A sensitivity analysis is done to evaluate the variables affecting more the maintenance costs. The rail-sleeper contact is assumed extended to an area-defined contact zone, rather than a single-point assumption which fits better real case studies. Experimental validations show how prediction fits well experimental data.

  20. Beck Exportation: London and Sydney

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cartwright, William; Field, Kenneth

    2018-05-01

    Henry (Harry) Beck's schematic map of the London Underground is the foundation for most `modern' representations of metropolitan rail systems. From its introduction in the 1930s, it has been the image of the London underground rail transportation system, and, indeed, the image of London itself. Following the launch of the schematic map in 1933 Londoners adopted his representation of the underground as the favoured transportation navigation tool, but also as a physical affirmation that they were citizens of a modern city, a city of electricity and the avant-garde. The London Underground map, as well as being the physical image of the underground rail system, became the signature of the modern city itself. It projected order, systematic transportation and commuter convenience. The map reinforced the general belief that a modern transportation system was at the very heart of what made a city a city. Building upon the success of the map, Beck, and the London Passenger Transport Board, explored how this `take' on the representation of an urban transportation system might be exported to other European, and Antipodean rail networks. This paper provides a dialogue on how Beck's concept for the `metromap' was offered as an alternative navigational diagram to the, then new, Sydney underground system. It then outlines the results of an investigation about how this `Exportation' of Beck's design resulted in the 1939 Sydney metromap that was a clone of the London Underground map.

  1. Application research of rail transit safety protection based on laser detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Zhifei

    2016-10-01

    Platform screen door can not only prevent the passengers fell or jumped the track danger, to passengers bring comfortable waiting environment, but also has the function of environmental protection and energy saving. But platform screen door and train the full-length gap region is insecure in the system design of a hidden, such as passengers for some reason (grab the train) in the interstitial region retention, is sandwiched between the intercity safety door and the door, and such as the region lacks security detection and alarm system, once the passengers in the gap region retention (caught), bring more serious threat to the safety of passengers and traffic safety. This paper from the point of view of the design presents the physical, infrared, laser three safety protection device setting schemes. Domestic intelligence of between rail transit shield door and train security clearance processing used is screen door system standard configuration, the obstacle detection function for avoid passengers stranded in the clearance has strong prevention function. Laser detection research and development projects can access to prevent shield door and train gap clamp safety measures. Rail safety protection method are studied applying laser detection technique. According to the laser reflection equation of foreign body, the characteristics of laser detection of foreign bodies are given in theory. By using statistical analysis method, the workflow of laser detection system is established. On this basis, protection methods is proposed. Finally the simulation and test results show that the laser detection technology in the rail traffic safety protection reliability and stability, And the future laser detection technology in is discussed the development of rail transit.

  2. Grain Handling and Transportation Policy in Canada: Implications for the United States

    DOE PAGES

    Nolan, James; Peterson, Steven K

    2015-08-01

    The grain handling and transportation system in Canada (GHTS) is currently going through a major transition, both with respect to handling and transportation. Historically, the system has pitted farmers against the railways with respect to securing individual fair shares of grain revenues. But with the removal of the single desk marketing and logistics function of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) in late 2012, a very interesting and potentially game-changing outcome is emerging with respect to the new functionality of the grain companies in the Canadian system. While historical awareness of rail s natural monopoly position in the grain handling systemmore » has kept that sector regulated (in several ways) for close to a century, we are now starting to see the effects of a less than competitive Canadian grain handling sector on revenue sharing, along with renewed movement in the industry with respect to buyouts and potential mergers. This overview will highlight some of the changes now occurring and how they are potentially going to interact or evolve as the system moves forward. For example, the on-going regulatory instrument used to regulate grain transportation rates in Canada (called the maximum revenue entitlement (MRE) or revenue cap) is under current debate because of the introduction a few months ago of a modification to an old regulatory instrument known as extended (or reciprocal) interswitching. As opposed to the revenue cap which is a direct intervention on monopoly behavior, extended interswitching is designed to encourage the major Canadian grain carriers to compete with one another and potentially seek out new traffic (Nolan and Skotheim, 2008). But the most intriguing aspect of extended interswitching is how it might allow a major rail carrier from the U.S. to solicit grain traffic in some areas of the Canadian grain transportation system.« less

  3. Grain Handling and Transportation Policy in Canada: Implications for the United States

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nolan, James; Peterson, Steven K

    The grain handling and transportation system in Canada (GHTS) is currently going through a major transition, both with respect to handling and transportation. Historically, the system has pitted farmers against the railways with respect to securing individual fair shares of grain revenues. But with the removal of the single desk marketing and logistics function of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) in late 2012, a very interesting and potentially game-changing outcome is emerging with respect to the new functionality of the grain companies in the Canadian system. While historical awareness of rail s natural monopoly position in the grain handling systemmore » has kept that sector regulated (in several ways) for close to a century, we are now starting to see the effects of a less than competitive Canadian grain handling sector on revenue sharing, along with renewed movement in the industry with respect to buyouts and potential mergers. This overview will highlight some of the changes now occurring and how they are potentially going to interact or evolve as the system moves forward. For example, the on-going regulatory instrument used to regulate grain transportation rates in Canada (called the maximum revenue entitlement (MRE) or revenue cap) is under current debate because of the introduction a few months ago of a modification to an old regulatory instrument known as extended (or reciprocal) interswitching. As opposed to the revenue cap which is a direct intervention on monopoly behavior, extended interswitching is designed to encourage the major Canadian grain carriers to compete with one another and potentially seek out new traffic (Nolan and Skotheim, 2008). But the most intriguing aspect of extended interswitching is how it might allow a major rail carrier from the U.S. to solicit grain traffic in some areas of the Canadian grain transportation system.« less

  4. 49 CFR 37.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ..., painting or wallpapering, asbestos removal, or changes to mechanical or electrical systems are not... vehicles or multi-car trains. Service may be on a fixed schedule or in response to a passenger-activated... to another mode of transportation. Commuter rail car means a rail passenger car obtained by a...

  5. Modal shift and high-speed rail : a review of the current literature.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-06-01

    This report provides a review of scholarly literature with direct relevance to the topic of modal shift and high-speed rail (HSR). : HSR systems are usually planned on the expectation that they will attract riders who would have chosen other modes (s...

  6. The technical feasibility of high-speed rail lines along interstate highways in Virginia.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1984-01-01

    To show the trend toward modern high-speed rail systems, an overview of recent developments in the subject is presented. Countries as Japan, France, Germany, England, and Canada, as well as the United States, are actively involved, with Japan and Fra...

  7. Examining long-distance express buses as an extension of and feeder to passenger rail systems.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-03-01

    One of the mobility challenges facing Texas and other high-population states in the coming years is the : rising travel demand along major intercity travel corridors. Increased passenger rail service may help to : absorb some of the travel demand fro...

  8. STOCK YARD LOOKING SOUTHEAST SHOWING OVERHEAD YARD CRANE RAIL, THE ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    STOCK YARD LOOKING SOUTHEAST SHOWING OVERHEAD YARD CRANE RAIL, THE MALLEABLE CUPOLAS AND EMISSION RECOVERY SYSTEM, OLD SHED ROOF THAT COVERED THE EARLIER MALLEABLE CUPOLA CHARGING CRANE, MALLEABLE FOUNDRY, AND POLLUTION CONTROL BAGHOUSE. - Stockham Pipe & Fittings Company, 4000 Tenth Avenue North, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL

  9. Effectiveness of bomber deployed autonomous airborne vehicles in finding rail mobile SS-24s

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Abey, A.E.; Erickson, S.A.; Norquist, P.D.

    1990-08-01

    Computer simulation predictions of the effectiveness of autonomous airborne vehicles in finding rail mobile SS-24s are presented. Effectiveness is discussed for several autonomous airborne vehicle endurances and survivabilities for the search area southwest of Moscow. The effect of where the Soviets place the SS-24s on the rail network was also investigated. The simulation predicts significant variations in the ability of a multi-autonomous airborne vehicle system to find SS-24s with these parameters. 12 figs., 1 tab.

  10. Control system for maximum use of adhesive forces of a railway vehicle in a tractive mode

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spiryagin, Maksym; Lee, Kwan Soo; Yoo, Hong Hee

    2008-04-01

    The realization of maximum adhesive forces for a railway vehicle is a very difficult process, because it involves using tractive efforts and depends on friction characteristics in the contact zone between wheels and rails. Tractive efforts are realized by means of tractive torques of motors, and their maximum values can provide negative effects such as slip and skid. These situations usually happen when information about friction conditions is lacking. The negative processes have a major influence on wearing of contact bodies and tractive units. Therefore, many existing control systems for vehicles use an effect of a prediction of a friction coefficient between wheels and rails because measuring a friction coefficient at the moment of running vehicle movement is very difficult. One of the ways to solve this task is to use noise spectrum analysis for friction coefficient detection. This noise phenomenon has not been clearly studied and analyzed. In this paper, we propose an adhesion control system of railway vehicles based on an observer, which allows one to determine the maximum tractive torque based on the optimal adhesive force between the wheels (wheel pair) of a railway vehicle and rails (rail track) depending on weight load from a wheel to a rail, friction conditions in the contact zone, a lateral displacement of wheel set and wheel sleep. As a result, it allows a railway vehicle to be driven in a tractive mode by the maximum adhesion force for real friction conditions.

  11. idRHa+ProMod - Rail Hardening Control System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferro, L.

    2016-03-01

    idRHa+ProMod is the process control system developed by Primetals Technologies to foresee the thermo-mechanical evolution and micro-structural composition of rail steels subjected to slack quenching into idRHa+ Rail Hardening equipments in a simulation environment. This tool can be used both off-line or in-line, giving the user the chance to test and study the best cooling strategies or letting the automatic control system free to adjust the proper cooling recipe. Optimization criteria have been tailored in order to determine the best cooling conditions according to the metallurgical requirements imposed by the main rail standards and also taking into account the elastoplastic bending phenomena occurring during all stages of the head hardening process. The computational core of idRHa+ProMod is a thermal finite element procedure coupled with special algorithms developed to work out the main thermo-physical properties of steel, to predict the non-isothermal austenite decomposition into all the relevant phases and subsequently to evaluate the amount of latent heat of transformation released, the compound thermal expansion coefficient and the amount of plastic deformation in the material. Air mist and air blades boundary conditions have been carefully investigated by means of pilot plant tests aimed to study the jet impingement on rail surfaces and the cooling efficiency at all working conditions. Heat transfer coefficients have been further checked and adjusted directly on field during commissioning. idRHa+ is a trademark of Primetals Technologies Italy Srl

  12. 49 CFR 213.345 - Vehicle/track system qualification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... in accordance with the requirements of this paragraph (c). (1) Simulations or measurement of wheel/rail forces. For vehicle types intended to operate at track Class 6 speeds, simulations or measurement... exceed the wheel/rail force safety limits specified in § 213.333. Simulations, if conducted, shall be in...

  13. 49 CFR 213.345 - Vehicle/track system qualification.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... in accordance with the requirements of this paragraph (c). (1) Simulations or measurement of wheel/rail forces. For vehicle types intended to operate at track Class 6 speeds, simulations or measurement... exceed the wheel/rail force safety limits specified in § 213.333. Simulations, if conducted, shall be in...

  14. 76 FR 16854 - Notice of Meeting of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS)

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-25

    ... Secretary and the Federal Transit Administrator on matters relating to the safety of public transportation... to the safety of public transportation systems. TRACS is composed of 21 members representing a broad... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Notice of Meeting of the Transit Rail...

  15. 77 FR 55265 - Notice of Meeting of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS)

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-09-07

    ... Secretary and the Federal Transit Administrator on matters relating to the safety of public transportation... Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on matters relating to the safety of public transportation systems... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Notice of Meeting of the Transit Rail...

  16. Magnetic and Electric Field Testing of the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and New Jersey/North Jersey coast line rail systems. v. 2. Appendices.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1993-04-01

    The safety of magnetically levitated (maglev) and high speed rail (HSR) trains proposed for application in the United States is the responsibility of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The characterization of electric and magnetic fields (EMF...

  17. Magnetic and electric field testing of the AMTRAK Northeast Corridor and New Jersey/North Jersey coast line rail systems. Volume 1 : analysis

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1993-04-01

    The safety of magnetically levitated (maglev) and high speed rail (HSR) trains proposed for application in the United States is the responsibility of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The characterization of electric and magnetic fields (EMF...

  18. 75 FR 5370 - Notice of Request for Clearance of an Information Collection: Omnibus Household Survey Program

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-02

    ... transportation system in light of the DOT's strategic goals (safety, reduced congestion, global connectivity... transportation issues, and provide national estimates of transportation mode usage. Each version of the OHS will... transit (subway, streetcar, or light rail) Commuter rail Water transportation (taxis, ferries, ships...

  19. Energy stores and switches for rail-launcher systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Weldon, W. F.; Zowarka, R. C.; Marshall, R. A.

    1983-01-01

    An overview of existing switch and power supply technology applicable to space launch, a new candidate pulsed power supply for Earth-to-space rail launcher duty, the inverse railgun flux compressor, and a set of switching experiments to study further the feasibility of Earth-to-space launch are discussed.

  20. Fire and Life Safety Training Needs of Rail Rapid Transit System and Fire Service Personnel

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-05-01

    This report presents a summary and the results of the successful workshop "On Track to Fire and Life Safety in Rail Rapid Transit," held on August 2-4, 1982, at Crystal City, Virginia. Sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) ...

  1. High speed passenger rail : future development will depend on addressing financial and other challenges and establishing a clear federal role.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-03-01

    Federal and other decision makers : have had a renewed interest in how : high speed rail might fit into the : national transportation system and : address increasing mobility : constraints on highways and at : airports due to congestion. GAO : was as...

  2. 49 CFR 38.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 38.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by... to be accessible, or mini-high platforms complying with § 38.113(d) are provided, the car is not...

  3. 49 CFR 38.95 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES Commuter Rail Cars and Systems § 38.95 Mobility aid accessibility... rail cars, other than level entry cars, covered by this subpart shall provide a level-change mechanism... accessible, or mini-high platforms complying with § 38.93(d) are provided, the car is not required to be...

  4. Advancing high-speed rail policy in the United States [research brief].

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-06-01

    This report investigates the current state of high-speed rail (HSR) policy in the US, juxtaposing it against HSR experience in Asia and Europe. The purpose is to identify basic steps that must be put in place if a HSR system is to be developed in the...

  5. Energy stores and switches for rail-launcher systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weldon, W. F.; Zowarka, R. C.; Marshall, R. A.

    An overview of existing switch and power supply technology applicable to space launch, a new candidate pulsed power supply for Earth-to-space rail launcher duty, the inverse railgun flux compressor, and a set of switching experiments to study further the feasibility of Earth-to-space launch are discussed.

  6. Risk assessment of flange climb derailment of a rail vehicle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vlakhova, A. V.

    2015-01-01

    We study the wheel flange climb onto the railhead, which is one of the most dangerous regimes of motion and can lead to derailment. The tangential components of the wheel-rail interaction forces are described by the creep model with small slips taken into account. We pass to the limit of infinite rigidity of the interacting bodies (zero slip velocities). It is shown that, in the actual service conditions of rail vehicle motion, neglecting the wheel-rail slip is not justified; namely, the limit model is determined by the primary Dirac constraints, i.e., finite relations between coordinates and momenta arising owing to the system Lagrangian degeneration. The obtained nonclassical model allows one to study the efficiency of some railway motion safety criteria and analytically estimate derailment conditions, which depend on the flange shape, the track curvature radius, the height of the vehicle center of mass, the wheel-rail interaction forces, the coefficients of friction of the interacting surfaces, and the external perturbation forces and moments.

  7. GMT azimuth bogie wheel-rail interface wear study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teran, Jose; Lindh, Cory; Morgan, Chris; Manuel, Eric; Bigelow, Bruce C.; Burgett, William S.

    2016-07-01

    Performance of the GMT azimuth drive system is vital for the operation of the telescope and, as such, all components subject to wear at the drive interface merit a high level of scrutiny for achieving a proper balance between capital costs, maintenance costs, and the risk for downtime during planned and unplanned maintenance or replacement procedures. Of particular importance is the interface between the azimuth wheels and rail, as usage frequency is high, the full weight of the enclosure must be transferred through small patches of contact, and replacement of the rail would pose a greater logistical challenge than the replacement of smaller components such as bearings and gearmotors. This study investigates tradeoffs between various wheel-rail and roller-track interfaces, including performance, complexity, and anticipated wear considerations. First, a survey of railway and overhead crane industry literature is performed and general detailing recommendations are made to minimize wear and the risk of rolling contact fatigue. Second, Adams/VI-Rail is used to simulate lifetime wear of four specific configurations under consideration for the GMT azimuth wheel-rail interface; all studied configurations are shown to be viable, and their relative merits are discussed.

  8. Prevention of breakdown behind railgun projectiles

    DOEpatents

    Hawke, R.S.

    1992-10-13

    An electromagnetic railgun accelerator system, for accelerating projectiles by a plasma arc, introduces a breakdown inhibiting gas into the railgun chamber behind the accelerating projectile. The breakdown inhibiting gas, which absorbs electrons, is a halide or a halide compound such as fluorine or SF[sub 6]. The gas is introduced between the railgun rails after the projectile has passed through inlets in the rails or the projectile; by coating the rails or the projectile with a material which releases the gas after the projectile passes over it; by fabricating the rails or the projectile or insulators out of a material which releases the gas into the portions of the chamber through which the projectile has travelled. The projectile may have a cavity at its rear to control the release of ablation products. 12 figs.

  9. Prevention of breakdown behind railgun projectiles

    DOEpatents

    Hawke, R.S.

    1992-09-01

    An electromagnetic railgun accelerator system, for accelerating projectiles by a plasma arc, introduces a breakdown inhibiting gas into the railgun chamber behind the accelerating projectile. The breakdown inhibiting gas, which absorbs electrons, is a halide or a halide compound such as fluorine or SF[sub 6]. The gas is introduced between the railgun rails after the projectile has passed through inlets in the rails or the projectile; by coating the rails or the projectile with a material which releases the gas after the projectile passes over it; by fabricating the rails or the projectile or insulators out of a material which releases the gas into the portions of the chamber through which the projectile has travelled. The projectile may have a cavity at its rear to control the release of ablation products. 12 figs.

  10. Rail height effects on safety performance of Midwest Guardrail System.

    PubMed

    Asadollahi Pajouh, Mojdeh; Julin, Ramen D; Stolle, Cody S; Reid, John D; Faller, Ronald K

    2018-02-17

    Guardrail heights play a crucial role in the way that errant vehicles interact with roadside barriers. Low rail heights increase the propensity of vehicle rollover and override, whereas excessively tall rails promote underride. Further, rail mounting heights and post embedment depths may be altered by variations in roadside terrain. An increased guardrail height may be desirable to accommodate construction tolerances, soil erosion, frost heave, and future roadway overlays. This study aimed to investigate and identify a maximum safe installation height for the Midwest Guardrail System that would be robust and remain crashworthy before and after pavement overlays. A research investigation was performed to evaluate the safety performance of increased mounting heights for the standard 787-mm (31-in.)-tall Midwest Guardrail System (MGS) through crash testing and computer simulation. Two full-scale crash tests with small passenger cars were performed on the MGS with top-rail mounting heights of 864 and 914 mm (34 and 36 in.). Test results were then used to calibrate computer simulation models. In the first test, a small car impacted the MGS with 864-mm (34-in.) rail height at 102 km/h (63.6 mph) and 25.0° and was successfully redirected. In the second test, another small car impacted the MGS with a 914-mm (36-in.) rail height at 103 km/h (64.1 mph) and 25.6° and was successful. Both system heights satisfied the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) Test Level 3 (TL-3) evaluation criteria. Test results were then used to calibrate computer simulation models. A mounting height of 36 in. was determined to be the maximum guardrail height that would safely contain and redirect small car vehicles. Simulations confirmed that taller guardrail heights (i.e., 37 in.) would likely result in small car underride. In addition, simulation results indicated that passenger vehicle models were successfully contained by the 34- and 36-in.-tall MGS installed on approach slopes as steep as 6:1. A mounting height of 914 mm (36 in.) was determined to be the maximum guardrail height that would safely contain and redirect 1100C vehicles and not allow underride or excessive vehicle snag on support posts. Recommendations were also provided regarding the safety performance of the MGS with increased height.

  11. Application of MetaRail railway noise measurement methodology: comparison of three track systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kalivoda, M.; Kudrna, M.; Presle, G.

    2003-10-01

    Within the fourth RTD Framework Programme, the European Union has supported a research project dealing with the improvement of railway noise (emission) measurement methodologies. This project was called MetaRail and proposed a number of procedures and methods to decrease systematic measurement errors and to increase reproducibility. In 1999 the Austrian Federal Railways installed 1000 m of test track to explore the long-term behaviour of three different ballast track systems. This test included track stability, rail forces and ballast forces, as well as vibration transmission and noise emission. The noise study was carried out using the experience and methods developed within MetaRail. This includes rail roughness measurements as well as measurements of vertical railhead, sleeper and ballast vibration in parallel with the noise emission measurement with a single microphone at a distance of 7.5 m from the track. Using a test train with block- and disc-braked vehicles helped to control operational conditions and indicated the influence of different wheel roughness. It has been shown that the parallel recording of several vibration signals together with the noise signal makes it possible to evaluate the contributions of car body, sleeper, track and wheel sources to the overall noise emission. It must be stressed that this method is not focused as is a microphone-array. However, this methodology is far easier to apply and thus cheaper. Within this study, noise emission was allocated to the different elements to answer questions such as whether the sleeper eigenfrequency is transmitted into the rail.

  12. Development of CNG direct injection (CNGDI) clean fuel system for extra power in small engine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ali, Yusoff; Shamsudeen, Azhari; Abdullah, Shahrir; Mahmood, Wan Mohd Faizal Wan

    2012-06-01

    A new design of fuel system for CNG engine with direct injection (CNGDI) was developed for a demonstration project. The development of the fuel system was done on the engine with cylinder head modifications, for fuel injector and spark plug openings included in the new cylinder head. The piston was also redesigned for higher compression ratio. The fuel rails and the regulators are also designed for the direct injection system operating at higher pressure about 2.0 MPa. The control of the injection timing for the direct injectors are also controlled by the Electronic Control Unit specially designed for DI by another group project. The injectors are selected after testing with the various injection pressures and spray angles. For the best performance of the high-pressure system, selection is made from the tests on single cylinder research engine (SCRE). The components in the fuel system have to be of higher quality and complied with codes and standards to secure the safety of engine for high-pressure operation. The results of the CNGDI have shown that better power output is produced and better emissions were achieved compared to the aspirated CNG engine.

  13. Nonlinear Dynamic of Curved Railway Tracks in Three-Dimensional Space

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, X.; Ngamkhanong, C.; Kaewunruen, S.

    2017-12-01

    On curved tracks, high-pitch noise pollution can often be a considerable concern of rail asset owners, commuters, and people living or working along the rail corridor. Inevitably, wheel/rail interface can cause a traveling source of sound and vibration, which spread over a long distance of rail network. The sound and vibration can be in various forms and spectra. The undesirable sound and vibration on curves is often called ‘noise,’ includes flanging and squealing noises. This paper focuses on the squeal noise phenomena on curved tracks located in urban environments. It highlights the effect of curve radii on lateral track dynamics. It is important to note that rail freight curve noises, especially for curve squeals, can be observed almost everywhere and every type of track structures. The most pressing noise appears at sharper curved tracks where excessive lateral wheel/rail dynamics resonate with falling friction states, generating a tonal noise problem, so-call ‘squeal’. Many researchers have carried out measurements and simulations to understand the actual root causes of the squeal noise. Most researchers believe that wheel resonance over falling friction is the main cause, whilst a few others think that dynamic mode coupling of wheel and rail may also cause the squeal. Therefore, this paper is devoted to systems thinking the approach and dynamic assessment in resolving railway curve noise problems. The simulations of railway tracks with different curve radii will be carried out to develop state-of-the-art understanding into lateral track dynamics, including rail dynamics, cant dynamics, gauge dynamics and overall track responses.

  14. Improving Resource Allocation Decisions to Reduce the Risk of Terrorist Attacks on Passenger Rail Systems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-12-01

    theory, passenger rail bombing , attacker-defender methodology 15. NUMBER OF PAGES 103 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF REPORT...bombers carried out a successful coordinated attack against the London mass transit system in July 2005. Three suicide bombings occurred on trains and...iron rods to make shrapnel. The precise timing indicates the terrorists themselves detonated their own devices. In March 2016, a suicide bomb

  15. Structural analysis of a rehabilitative training system based on a ceiling rail for safety of hemiplegia patients.

    PubMed

    Kim, Kyong; Song, Won Kyung; Chong, Woo Suk; Yu, Chang Ho

    2018-04-17

    The body-weight support (BWS) function, which helps to decrease load stresses on a user, is an effective tool for gait and balance rehabilitation training for elderly people with weakened lower-extremity muscular strength, hemiplegic patients, etc. This study conducts structural analysis to secure user safety in order to develop a rail-type gait and balance rehabilitation training system (RRTS). The RRTS comprises a rail, trolley, and brain-machine interface. The rail (platform) is connected to the ceiling structure, bearing the loads of the RRTS and of the user and allowing locomobility. The trolley consists of a smart drive unit (SDU) that assists the user with forward and backward mobility and a body-weight support (BWS) unit that helps the user to control his/her body-weight load, depending on the severity of his/her hemiplegia. The brain-machine interface estimates and measures on a real-time basis the body-weight (load) of the user and the intended direction of his/her movement. Considering the weight of the system and the user, the mechanical safety performance of the system frame under an applied 250-kg static load is verified through structural analysis using ABAQUS (6.14-3) software. The maximum stresses applied on the rail and trolley under the given gravity load of 250 kg, respectively, are 18.52 MPa and 48.44 MPa. The respective safety factors are computed to be 7.83 and 5.26, confirming the RRTS's mechanical safety. An RRTS with verified structural safety could be utilized for gait movement and balance rehabilitation and training for patients with hemiplegia.

  16. Effect of temperature- and frequency-dependent dynamic properties of rail pads on high-speed vehicle-track coupled vibrations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wei, Kai; Wang, Feng; Wang, Ping; Liu, Zi-xuan; Zhang, Pan

    2017-03-01

    The soft under baseplate pad of WJ-8 rail fastener frequently used in China's high-speed railways was taken as the study subject, and a laboratory test was performed to measure its temperature and frequency-dependent dynamic performance at 0.3 Hz and at -60°C to 20°C with intervals of 2.5°C. Its higher frequency-dependent results at different temperatures were then further predicted based on the time-temperature superposition (TTS) and Williams-Landel-Ferry (WLF) formula. The fractional derivative Kelvin-Voigt (FDKV) model was used to represent the temperature- and frequency-dependent dynamic properties of the tested rail pad. By means of the FDKV model for rail pads and vehicle-track coupled dynamic theory, high-speed vehicle-track coupled vibrations due to temperature- and frequency-dependent dynamic properties of rail pads was investigated. Finally, further combining with the measured frequency-dependent dynamic performance of vehicle's rubber primary suspension, the high-speed vehicle-track coupled vibration responses were discussed. It is found that the storage stiffness and loss factor of the tested rail pad are sensitive to low temperatures or high frequencies. The proposed FDKV model for the frequency-dependent storage stiffness and loss factors of the tested rail pad can basically meet the fitting precision, especially at ordinary temperatures. The numerical simulation results indicate that the vertical vibration levels of high-speed vehicle-track coupled systems calculated with the FDKV model for rail pads in time domain are higher than those calculated with the ordinary Kelvin-Voigt (KV) model for rail pads. Additionally, the temperature- and frequency-dependent dynamic properties of the tested rail pads would alter the vertical vibration acceleration levels (VALs) of the car body and bogie in 1/3 octave frequencies above 31.5 Hz, especially enlarge the vertical VALs of the wheel set and rail in 1/3 octave frequencies of 31.5-100 Hz and above 315 Hz, which are the dominant frequencies of ground vibration acceleration and rolling noise (or bridge noise) caused by high-speed railways respectively. Since the fractional derivative value of the adopted rubber primary suspension, unlike the tested rail pad, is very close to 1, its frequency-dependent dynamic performance has little effect on high-speed vehicle-track coupled vibration responses.

  17. 77 FR 19030 - Automated Commercial Environment Required for the Transmission of Advance Ocean and Rail Cargo...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-29

    ... electronic data interchange (EDI) system. CBP recently completed the testing of the Automated Commercial..., after a six month transition period, ACE will be the only CBP-approved EDI for submitting required...-approved EDI for transmitting to CBP required advance information for ocean and rail cargo. FOR FURTHER...

  18. Modeling the Effects of a Transportation Security Incident on the Commercial Container Transportation System

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-09-01

    19 4. Domestic Port to Transportation Analysis Zone Distances ...........19 5. Truck Travel Times...20 6. Rail Travel Times...............................................................................20 7. Rail and...commercial container transportation network. An import container begins travel in a foreign port, enters the U.S. via a domestic port and can either

  19. Crashworthy railing for timber bridges

    Treesearch

    Michael A. Ritter; Ronald K. Faller; Sheila Rimal Duwadi

    1999-01-01

    Bridge railing systems in the United States have historically beers designed based on static load criteria given in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation 0fficials (AASHTO) Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges. In the past decade, full-scale vehicle crash testing has been recognized as a more appropriate and reliable method of evaluating...

  20. Evaluation of the guard rail energy absorbing terminal (G-R-E-A-T) impact attenuator : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1982-09-01

    This short report evaluates as many aspects of the Guard Rail Energy Absorbing Terminal (G-R-E-A-T), a vehicle attenuator, as possible. The system was first installed on a particular bridge in September 1979 and was evaluated for three years. No impa...

  1. Competitive strategy for the proposed Texas high speed rail project : a system dynamics/ CLIOS process approach.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-09-10

    The Texas High-Speed Rail (HSR) is an unprecedented US project proposed by a private company. This project has many uncertainties because it will be funded only by the private sectors and it is the first US HSR project using foreign technology. The H...

  2. 78 FR 76750 - Drawbridge Operation Regulation; Chambers Creek, Steilacoom, WA

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-19

    ... per the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. This will require locking the bridge in the closed position and locking out the power to the drive system while the work is conducted. This deviation allows... Train Control requirements per the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. This will require locking the...

  3. Research on light rail electric load forecasting based on ARMA model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Yifan

    2018-04-01

    The article compares a variety of time series models and combines the characteristics of power load forecasting. Then, a light load forecasting model based on ARMA model is established. Based on this model, a light rail system is forecasted. The prediction results show that the accuracy of the model prediction is high.

  4. Assessment of design tools and criteria for urban rail track structures : volume 1. at-grade tie-ballast track.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1974-04-30

    The report presents the results of a critical review of the technical factors which govern the design and performance of at-grade tie-ballast track for urban rail systems. The assessment of current design practice is based on a review of the literatu...

  5. Assessment of Design Tools and Criteria for Urban Rail Track Structures : Volume 2. At-Grade Slab Track.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1974-04-01

    This report presents the results of a critical review of the technical factors which govern the design and performance of at-grade slab track for urban rail systems. The assessment of current design practices is based on a review of the literature an...

  6. Extended applications of track irregularity probabilistic model and vehicle-slab track coupled model on dynamics of railway systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Lei; Zhai, Wanming; Gao, Jianmin

    2017-11-01

    Track irregularities are inevitably in a process of stochastic evolution due to the uncertainty and continuity of wheel-rail interactions. For depicting the dynamic behaviours of vehicle-track coupling system caused by track random irregularities thoroughly, it is a necessity to develop a track irregularity probabilistic model to simulate rail surface irregularities with ergodic properties on amplitudes, wavelengths and probabilities, and to build a three-dimensional vehicle-track coupled model by properly considering the wheel-rail nonlinear contact mechanisms. In the present study, the vehicle-track coupled model is programmed by combining finite element method with wheel-rail coupling model firstly. Then, in light of the capability of power spectral density (PSD) in characterising amplitudes and wavelengths of stationary random signals, a track irregularity probabilistic model is presented to reveal and simulate the whole characteristics of track irregularity PSD. Finally, extended applications from three aspects, that is, extreme analysis, reliability analysis and response relationships between dynamic indices, are conducted to the evaluation and application of the proposed models.

  7. Department of the Navy Justification of Estimates for Fiscal Year 1985. Submitted to Congress February 1984. Procurement, Aircraft Procurement, Navy

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-02-01

    for tactical air power projection. The F/A-18 will replace aging F-4 and A-7 aircraft. The total programed procurement of F/A-18 aircraft is 1,377...inner zone anti-submarine .arfars helicopter which is needed to modernize aging CV assets. P-3C (Patrol) ORION (Dollars in Millions) FY 1985 FY 1986...tE MAVERICK modification. By modifying the Armament Station Control Unit ( ASCU ), procuring single rail launchers (iAU-117) and interfacing MAVERICT

  8. Understanding safety and production risks in rail engineering planning and protection.

    PubMed

    Wilson, John R; Ryan, Brendan; Schock, Alex; Ferreira, Pedro; Smith, Stuart; Pitsopoulos, Julia

    2009-07-01

    Much of the published human factors work on risk is to do with safety and within this is concerned with prediction and analysis of human error and with human reliability assessment. Less has been published on human factors contributions to understanding and managing project, business, engineering and other forms of risk and still less jointly assessing risk to do with broad issues of 'safety' and broad issues of 'production' or 'performance'. This paper contains a general commentary on human factors and assessment of risk of various kinds, in the context of the aims of ergonomics and concerns about being too risk averse. The paper then describes a specific project, in rail engineering, where the notion of a human factors case has been employed to analyse engineering functions and related human factors issues. A human factors issues register for potential system disturbances has been developed, prior to a human factors risk assessment, which jointly covers safety and production (engineering delivery) concerns. The paper concludes with a commentary on the potential relevance of a resilience engineering perspective to understanding rail engineering systems risk. Design, planning and management of complex systems will increasingly have to address the issue of making trade-offs between safety and production, and ergonomics should be central to this. The paper addresses the relevant issues and does so in an under-published domain - rail systems engineering work.

  9. 77 FR 17121 - RailAmerica, Inc., Palm Beach Rail Holding, Inc., RailAmerica Transportation Corp., RailTex, Inc...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-23

    ... Group, LLC, and RR Acquisition Holding, LLC--Control Exemption--Wellsboro & Corning Railroad, LLC Rail.... (RTC), RailTex, Inc. (RailTex), Fortress Investment Group, LLC (Fortress), and RR Acquisition Holding... acquire indirect control of the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad, LLC (W&C), a Class III rail carrier, through...

  10. Defect detection performance of the UCSD non-contact air-coupled ultrasonic guided wave inspection of rails prototype

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mariani, Stefano; Nguyen, Thompson V.; Sternini, Simone; Lanza di Scalea, Francesco; Fateh, Mahmood; Wilson, Robert

    2016-04-01

    The University of California at San Diego (UCSD), under a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Research and Development (R&D) grant, is developing a system for high-speed and non-contact rail defect detection. A prototype using an ultrasonic air-coupled guided wave signal generation and air-coupled signal detection, paired with a real-time statistical analysis algorithm, has been realized. This system requires a specialized filtering approach based on electrical impedance matching due to the inherently poor signal-to-noise ratio of air-coupled ultrasonic measurements in rail steel. Various aspects of the prototype have been designed with the aid of numerical analyses. In particular, simulations of ultrasonic guided wave propagation in rails have been performed using a Local Interaction Simulation Approach (LISA) algorithm. The system's operating parameters were selected based on Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves, which provide a quantitative manner to evaluate different detection performances based on the trade-off between detection rate and false positive rate. The prototype based on this technology was tested in October 2014 at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, Colorado, and again in November 2015 after incorporating changes based on lessons learned. Results from the 2015 field test are discussed in this paper.

  11. a Traffic-Dependent Acoustical Grinding Criterion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    DINGS, P.; VERHEIJEN, E.; KOOTWIJK-DAMMAN, C.

    2000-03-01

    On most lines of the Dutch railway network, where a substantial amount of block-braked trains have rough wheels, the average wheel roughness dominates over the rail roughness. Therefore, reducing wheel roughness is top priority in the Netherlands. However, for the situations where rail roughness exceeds wheel roughness, this roughness can be lowered at acceptable cost. The high rail roughness is often due to rail corrugation which can be removed by grinding. A method has been developed to assess periodically the rail roughness on each railway line of the network, to compare it with the average wheel roughness for that line and to determine whether a noise reduction can be achieved by grinding the rail. Roughness measurements can be carried out with an instrumented coach. The two axle-boxes of a measurement wheelset are equipped with accelerometers. Together with the train speed and the right frequency filter, the accelerometer signal is used to produce a wavelength spectrum of the rail roughness. To determine the average wheel roughness on a given line, the so-called Acoustical Timetable can be used. This database comprises train types, train intensities and train speeds for each track section in the Netherlands. An average wheel roughness spectrum is known for each type of braking system. The number of trains of each type passing by on a certain track section determine the average roughness. Analysis of the data shows on which track sections the rail roughness exceeds the wheel roughness by a specified level difference. If this track section lies in a residential area, the decision can be made to grind this piece of track to reduce the noise production locally. Using this methodology, the noise production can be kept to a minimum, determined by the local average wheel roughness.

  12. Different haptic tools reduce trunk velocity in the frontal plane during walking, but haptic anchors have advantages over lightly touching a railing.

    PubMed

    Hedayat, Isabel; Moraes, Renato; Lanovaz, Joel L; Oates, Alison R

    2017-06-01

    There are different ways to add haptic input during walking which may affect walking balance. This study compared the use of two different haptic tools (rigid railing and haptic anchors) and investigated whether any effects on walking were the result of the added sensory input and/or the posture generated when using those tools. Data from 28 young healthy adults were collected using the Mobility Lab inertial sensor system (APDM, Oregon, USA). Participants walked with and without both haptic tools and while pretending to use both haptic tools (placebo trials), with eyes opened and eyes closed. Using the tools or pretending to use both tools decreased normalized stride velocity (p < .001-0.008) and peak medial-lateral (ML) trunk velocity (p < .001-0.001). Normalized stride velocity was slower when actually using the railing compared to placebo railing trials (p = .006). Using the anchors resulted in lower peak ML trunk velocity than the railing (p = .002). The anchors had lower peak ML trunk velocity than placebo anchors (p < .001), but there was no difference between railing and placebo railing (p > .999). These findings highlight a difference in the type of tool used to add haptic input and suggest that changes in balance control strategy resulting from using the railing are based on arm placement, where it is the posture combined with added sensory input that affects balance control strategies with the haptic anchors. These findings provide a strong framework for additional research to be conducted on the effects of haptic input on walking in populations known to have decreased walking balance.

  13. Electrical injury from subway third rails: serious injury associated with intermediate voltage contact.

    PubMed

    Rabban, J; Adler, J; Rosen, C; Blair, J; Sheridan, R

    1997-09-01

    Railway and subway-associated electrical trauma is rare and typically involves high voltage (> 20,000) arc injuries. Not all rail systems utilize such high voltage. We report 16 cases of electrical trauma due to 600 V direct contact with subway 'third' rails. A case series of injured patients presenting to Shriners Burns Institute, Boston or Massachusetts General Hospital between 1970 and 1995 was retrospectively analyzed. A total of 16 cases was identified. Among seven subway workers, the mechanism of rail contact was unintentional by a tool, a hand or by falling; no deaths occurred. Among nine non-occupational victims, injuries involved suicide attempts, unintentional falls, or risk-taking behavior. This group suffered greater burn severity, operative procedures, and complications; three deaths occurred. This is the largest report series of direct electrical trauma from a subway third rail. The high morbidity and mortality from this 600 V contact suggests that the traditional classification of low voltage (< 1000 V) exposure can be subdivided to reflect the serious and lethal potential of intermediate range exposures compared to household range exposures (0-220 V).

  14. Prediction of guided wave scattering by defects in rails using numerical modelling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Long, Craig S.; Loveday, Philip W.

    2014-02-01

    A guided wave based monitoring system for welded freight rail, has previously been developed. The current arrangement consists of alternating transmit and receive stations positioned roughly 1 km apart, and is designed to reliably detect complete breaks in a rail. Current research efforts are focused on extending this system to include a pulse-echo mode of operation in order to detect, locate, monitor and possibly characterize damage, before a complete break occurs. For monitoring and inspection applications, it is beneficial to be able to distinguish between scattering defects which do not represent damage (such as welds) and cracks which could result in rail breaks. In this paper we investigate the complex interaction between selected propagating modes and various weld and crack geometries in an attempt to relate scattering behaviour to defect geometry. An efficient hybrid method is employed which models the volume containing the defect with conventional solid finite elements, while the semi-infinite incoming and outgoing waveguides are accounted for using the SAFE method. Four candidate modes, suitable for long range propagation, are identified and evaluated. A weighted average reflection coefficient is used as a measure to quantify mode conversion between these four modes, and results are represented graphically in the form of reflection maps. The results show that it should be possible to distinguish between a large crack in the crown of the rail and a weld. We also show that there may be difficulties associated with reliably identifying cracks in the web as well as cracks in the crown which occur at a thermite weld. We suspect that it will be difficult to detect damage in the foot of the rail.

  15. Relating Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) occupancy to habitat and landscape features in the context of fire

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Austin, Jane E.; Buhl, Deborah A.

    2013-01-01

    The Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) is a focal species of concern associated with shallowly flooded emergent wetlands, most commonly sedge (Carex spp.) meadows. Their populations are believed to be limited by loss or degradation of wetland habitat due to drainage, altered hydrology, and fire suppression, factors that have often resulted in encroachment of shrubs into sedge meadows and change in vegetative cover. Nocturnal call-playback surveys for Yellow Rails were conducted over 3 years at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Effects of habitat structure and landscape variables on the probability of use by Yellow Rails were assessed at two scales, representing a range of home range sizes, using generalized linear mixed models. At the 163-m (8-ha) scale, year with quadratic models of maximum and mean water depths best explained the data. At the 300-m (28-ha) scale, the best model contained year and time since last fire (≤ 1, 2–5, and > 10 years). The probability of use by Yellow Rails was 0.285 ± 0.132 (SE) for points burned 2-5 years ago, 0.253 ± 0.097 for points burned ≤ 1 year ago, and 0.028 ± 0.019 for points burned > 10 years ago. Habitat differences relative to fire history and comparisons between sites with and without Yellow Rails indicated that Yellow Rails used areas with the deepest litter and highest ground cover, and relatively low shrub cover and heights, as well as landscapes having greater sedge-grass cover and less lowland woody or upland cover types. Burning every 2-5 years appears to provide the litter, ground-level cover, and woody conditions attractive to Yellow Rails. Managers seeking to restore and sustain these wetland systems would benefit from further investigations into how flooding and fire create habitat conditions attractive to breeding Yellow Rails

  16. Structure and Properties of Thermite Welds in Premium Rails

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1985-12-01

    Thermite welds were used to join combinations of premium rails and AREA Controlled Cooled Carbon rails (i.e., standard rails). The premium rails comprised head-hardened rails and CrMo, CrV and Cr alloy rails. A major objective was to determine the fe...

  17. A preliminary appraisal of the safety and operational effects on the regional transportation system caused by new rail-truck intermodal facilities.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-07-01

    Potential for impacts to a small Kansas city were evaluated in light of a planned rail to truck intermodal facility. The city : of Edgerton, Kansas, was selected for an intermodal terminal in 2006 by a Class I railroad due to its regional proximity t...

  18. 36 CFR 1192.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by § 1192.111 (a) and (e) of this subpart...(d) are provided, at stations or stops required to be accessible by 49 CFR part 37, the car is not...

  19. 36 CFR 1192.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by § 1192.111 (a) and (e) of this subpart...(d) are provided, at stations or stops required to be accessible by 49 CFR part 37, the car is not...

  20. 29 CFR 1926.502 - Fall protection systems criteria and practices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... constitute a projection hazard. (8) Steel banding and plastic banding shall not be used as top rails or... thickness to prevent cuts and lacerations. If wire rope is used for top rails, it shall be flagged at not... paragraph (e) of this section. (1) Connectors shall be drop forged, pressed or formed steel, or made of...

  1. 36 CFR 1192.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by § 1192.111 (a) and (e) of this subpart...(d) are provided, at stations or stops required to be accessible by 49 CFR part 37, the car is not...

  2. 36 CFR 1192.125 - Mobility aid accessibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... Intercity Rail Cars and Systems § 1192.125 Mobility aid accessibility. (a)(1) General. All intercity rail cars, other than level entry cars, required to be accessible by § 1192.111 (a) and (e) of this subpart...(d) are provided, at stations or stops required to be accessible by 49 CFR part 37, the car is not...

  3. 78 FR 14080 - Kolcraft Enterprises, Inc., Provisional Acceptance of a Settlement Agreement and Order

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-04

    ..., and when a child pushes against the rail, the rail can unlatch unexpectedly, posing a fall hazard to... enforce a system of internal controls and procedures designed to ensure that: (i) Information required to... weaknesses in the design or operation of such internal controls that are reasonably likely to adversely...

  4. 76 FR 55335 - Alternate Passenger Rail Service Pilot Program

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-07

    ... proceeding to develop a pilot program that permits a rail carrier or rail carriers that own infrastructure... develop a pilot program that permits a rail carrier or rail carriers that own infrastructure over which... that permits a rail carrier or rail carriers that own infrastructure over which Amtrak operates a...

  5. 77 FR 12107 - RailAmerica, Inc., Palm Beach Holding, Inc., RailAmerica Transportation Corp., RailTex, Inc...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-28

    ...., Palm Beach Holding, Inc., RailAmerica Transportation Corp., RailTex, Inc., Fortress Investment Group, LLC, and RR Acquisition Holding, LLC--Control Exemption--Marquette Rail, LLC AGENCY: Surface...), RailTex, Inc., Fortress Investment Group, LLC (Fortress), and RR Acquisition Holding, LLC (RR...

  6. Optical Tracker For Longwall Coal Shearer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Poulsen, Peter D.; Stein, Richard J.; Pease, Robert E.

    1989-01-01

    Photographic record yields information for correction of vehicle path. Tracking system records lateral movements of longwall coal-shearing vehicle. System detects lateral and vertical deviations of path of vehicle moving along coal face, shearing coal as it goes. Rides on rails in mine tunnel, advancing on toothed track in one of rails. As vehicle moves, retroreflective mirror rides up and down on teeth, providing series of pulsed reflections to film recorder. Recorded positions of pulses, having horizontal and vertical orientations, indicate vertical and horizontal deviations, respectively, of vehicle.

  7. Engineer Design of a Mono-Mooring System.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1966-01-01

    swivels . When asked whether the bogie rails were machined by a large radius boring mill , Mr. Coombe indicated that these rails are rolled then V welded...lifted aboard the transp ort vessel , the disposi- tion of the various system compo- nents shall be as follows: 1. Buoy shall be complete , with...tugboat , equipped with towing winch or pow9r capstan , LOA 110 ’ — 120’, twin screw; BHP-l000 minimum . 7. It has been assumed that weld- ing machines

  8. a Method for the Positioning and Orientation of Rail-Bound Vehicles in Gnss-Free Environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hung, R.; King, B. A.; Chen, W.

    2016-06-01

    Mobile Mapping System (MMS) are increasingly applied for spatial data collection to support different fields because of their efficiencies and the levels of detail they can provide. The Position and Orientation System (POS), which is conventionally employed for locating and orienting MMS, allows direct georeferencing of spatial data in real-time. Since the performance of a POS depends on both the Inertial Navigation System (INS) and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), poor GNSS conditions, such as in long tunnels and underground, introduce the necessity for post-processing. In above-ground railways, mobile mapping technology is employed with high performance sensors for finite usage, which has considerable potential for enhancing railway safety and management in real-time. In contrast, underground railways present a challenge for a conventional POS thus alternative configurations are necessary to maintain data accuracy and alleviate the need for post-processing. This paper introduces a method of rail-bound navigation to replace the role of GNSS for railway applications. The proposed method integrates INS and track alignment data for environment-independent navigation and reduces the demand of post-processing. The principle of rail-bound navigation is presented and its performance is verified by an experiment using a consumer-grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and a small-scale railway model. The method produced a substantial improvement in position and orientation for a poorly initialised system in centimetre positional accuracy. The potential improvements indicated by, and limitations of rail-bound navigation are also considered for further development in existing railway systems.

  9. On use of characteristic wavelengths of track irregularities to predict track portions with deteriorated wheel/rail forces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Lei; Zhai, Wanming; Chen, Zhaowei

    2018-05-01

    The dynamic performance of the railway vehicles and the guiding tracks is mainly governed by the wheel-rail interactions, particularly in cases of track irregularities. In this work, a united model was developed to investigate the track portions subject to violent wheel/rail forces triggered by track irregularities at middle-low frequencies. In the modeling procedures, a time-frequency unification method combining wavelet transform and Wigner-Ville distribution for characterizing time-frequency characteristics of track irregularities and a three-dimensional nonlinear model for describing vehicle-track interaction signatures were developed and coupled, based on which the method for predicting track portions subject to deteriorated wheel/rail forces was proposed. The theoretical models developed in this paper were comprehensively validated by numerical investigations. The significance of this present study mainly lies on offering a new path to establish correlation and realize mutual prediction between track irregularity and railway system dynamics.

  10. High-speed trains subject to abrupt braking

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tran, Minh Thi; Ang, Kok Keng; Luong, Van Hai; Dai, Jian

    2016-12-01

    The dynamic response of high-speed train subject to braking is investigated using the moving element method. Possible sliding of wheels over the rails is accounted for. The train is modelled as a 15-DOF system comprising of a car body, two bogies and four wheels interconnected by spring-damping units. The rail is modelled as a Euler-Bernoulli beam resting on a two-parameter elastic damped foundation. The interaction between the moving train and track-foundation is accounted for through the normal and tangential wheel-rail contact forces. The effects of braking torque, wheel-rail contact condition, initial train speed and severity of railhead roughness on the dynamic response of the high-speed train are investigated. For a given initial train speed and track irregularity, the study revealed that there is an optimal braking torque that would result in the smallest braking distance with no occurrence of wheel sliding, representing a good compromise between train instability and safety.

  11. Associations between task, training and social environmental factors and error types involved in rail incidents and accidents.

    PubMed

    Read, Gemma J M; Lenné, Michael G; Moss, Simon A

    2012-09-01

    Rail accidents can be understood in terms of the systemic and individual contributions to their causation. The current study was undertaken to determine whether errors and violations are more often associated with different local and organisational factors that contribute to rail accidents. The Contributing Factors Framework (CFF), a tool developed for the collection and codification of data regarding rail accidents and incidents, was applied to a sample of investigation reports. In addition, a more detailed categorisation of errors was undertaken. Ninety-six investigation reports into Australian accidents and incidents occurring between 1999 and 2008 were analysed. Each report was coded independently by two experienced coders. Task demand factors were significantly more often associated with skill-based errors, knowledge and training deficiencies significantly associated with mistakes, and violations significantly linked to social environmental factors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Recent Developments in Ground-Borne Noise and Vibration Control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nelson, J. T.

    1996-05-01

    Vibration control provisions available to the transit designer include (among others) precision straightened rail, ballast mats, floating slabs and very soft direct fixation fasteners, in addition to rail grinding, wheel truing, and continuous welded rail. Recently, the Los Angeles Metro has developed specifications for a soft resilient direct fixation fastener to fit the same base dimensions as the standard direct fixation fastener. In San Francisco, low resonance frequency (8 Hz) floating slabs have been constructed to mitigate predicted ground vibration impacts at nearby residential structures. In Atlanta, low resonance frequency loading slabs have been constructed to maintain a low vibration environment in a medical building planned to be built over the subway structure. In Portland and Pasadena, ballast mats have been recommended to control light rail transit ground vibration impacts on housing located at typically 35 feet from the alignment. Each of these provisions are briefly described in view of recent applications at U.S. transit systems.

  13. 75 FR 76520 - Tennessee Southern Railroad Company, Patriot Rail, LLC, Patriot Rail Holdings LLC, and Patriot...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-08

    ... family by converting two of its subsidiaries from corporations into limited liability companies: (1... Railroad Company, Patriot Rail, LLC, Patriot Rail Holdings LLC, and Patriot Rail Corp.--Corporate Family... Railroad Company (TSRR), Patriot Rail, LLC (PRL) and its subsidiaries, Patriot Rail Holdings LLC (PRH) and...

  14. The Rail Alignment Environmental Impact Statement: An Update

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    R. Sweeney

    2005-01-20

    On July 23,2002, the President of the United States signed into law a joint resolution of the United States Congress designating the Yucca Mountain site in Nye County, Nevada, for development as a geologic repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. If the US. Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorizes construction of the repository and receipt and possession of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive at Yucca Mountain, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) would be responsible for transporting these materials to the Yucca Mountain repository as part of its obligation under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.more » Part of the site recommendation decision included the analysis of a nation-wide shipping campaign to the proposed repository site. The ''Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada'' (February 2002) (Repository EIS) evaluated the potential impacts of the transportation of 70,000 Metric Tons of Heavy Metal spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from 77 locations around the nation to the potential repository in Nevada over a 24 year shipping campaign. In the Repository EIS, DOE identified mostly rail as its preferred mode of transportation, both nationally and in the State of Nevada. In December 2003, based on public comments and the environmental analyses in the Repository EIS, DOE identified a preference for the Caliente rail corridor in Nevada. On April 8, 2004, DOE issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on the Mode of Transportation and Nevada Rail Corridor for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada. In this ROD, the DOE announced that it had decided to select the mostly rail scenario analyzed in the Repository EIS as the transportation mode both on a national basis and in the State of Nevada. Under the mostly rail scenario, the DOE would rely on a combination of rail, truck and possibly barge to transport to the repository site at Yucca Mountain up to 70,000 MTHM of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, with most of the spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste being transported by rail. This will ultimately require construction of a rail line in Nevada to the repository. In addition, the DOE has decided to select the Caliente rail corridor in which to examine potential alignments within which to construct that rail line. A corridor is a strip of land, approximately 400 meters (0.25 miles) wide, that encompasses one of several possible routes through which DOE could build a rail line. An alignment is the specific location of a rail line in a corridor, and would likely be 60 meters [200 feet] or less in width. Also on April 8, 2004, DOE issued a Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Alignment, Construction, and Operation of a Rail Line to a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, NV. In the Notice of Intent, the Department announced its intent to prepare a Rail Alignment EIS to assist in selecting a possible alignment for construction of a rail line that would connect the repository at Yucca Mountain to an existing main rail line in Nevada. The Rail Alignment EIS also would consider the potential construction and operation of a rail-to-truck intermodal transfer facility, proposed to be located at the confluence of an existing mainline railroad and a highway, to support legal-weight truck transportation until the rail system is fully operational. This corridor is approximately 513 kilometers (319 miles) long and would cost an estimated $880 million (2001 dollars). Should DOE decide to build the Caliente corridor, it may be the longest rail line built in the United States since the Transcontinental Railroad was constructed in 1869. Some of the challenges in building this rail corridor are steep grades (the corridor crosses over 7 mountain ranges), isolated terrain, possible tunnels, and stakeholder acceptance.« less

  15. Green's functions for analysis of dynamic response of wheel/rail to vertical excitation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mazilu, Traian

    2007-09-01

    An analytical model to simulate wheel/rail interaction using the Green's functions method is proposed in this paper. The model consists of a moving wheel on a discretely supported rail. Particularly for this model of rail, the bending and the longitudinal displacement are coupled due to the rail pad and a complex model of the rail pad is adopted. An efficient method for solving a time-domain analysis for wheel/rail interaction is presented. The method is based on the properties of the rail's Green functions and starting to these functions, a track's Green matrix is assembled for the numerical simulations of wheel/rail response due to three kinds of vertical excitations: the steady-state interaction, the rail corrugation and the wheel flat. The study points to influence of the worn rail—rigid contact—on variation in the wheel/rail contact force. The concept of pinned-pinned inhibitive rail pad is also presented.

  16. Hydrogen Fueled Hybrid Solid Oxide Fuel Cell-Gas Turbine (SOFC-GT) System for Long-Haul Rail Application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chow, Justin Jeff

    Freight movement of goods is the artery for America's economic health. Long-haul rail is the premier mode of transport on a ton-mile basis. Concerns regarding greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant emissions, however, have motivated the creation of annually increasing locomotive emissions standards. Health issues from diesel particulate matter, especially near rail yards, have also been on the rise. These factors and the potential to raise conventional diesel-electric locomotive performance warrants the investigation of using future fuels in a more efficient system for locomotive application. This research evaluates the dynamic performance of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell-Gas Turbine (SOFC-GT) Hybrid system operating on hydrogen fuel to power a locomotive over a rail path starting from the Port of Los Angeles and ending in the City of Barstow. Physical constraints, representative locomotive operation logic, and basic design are used from a previous feasibility study and simulations are performed in the MATLAB Simulink environment. In-house controls are adapted to and expanded upon. Results indicate high fuel-to-electricity efficiencies of at least 54% compared to a conventional diesel-electric locomotive efficiency of 35%. Incorporation of properly calibrated feedback and feed-forward controls enables substantial load following of difficult transients that result from train kinematics while maintaining turbomachinery operating requirements and suppressing thermal stresses in the fuel cell stack. The power split between the SOFC and gas turbine is deduced to be a deterministic factor in the balance between capital and operational costs. Using hydrogen results in no emissions if renewable and offers a potential of 24.2% fuel energy savings for the rail industry.

  17. Rail Impact Testing. Test Operations Procedure (TOP)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-09-15

    impact test. The rail impact test is used to verify structural integrity of the test item and the adequacy of the tie-down system and tie-down...strength of provisions, connection and supporting structural frame, paragraph 5.2.3 ** Superscript...parts, to include outriggers and booms) without advanced approval by SDDCTEA. Torque nuts on wire rope clips to their correct value. Torque cable

  18. Railway Tunnel Clearance Inspection Method Based on 3D Point Cloud from Mobile Laser Scanning

    PubMed Central

    Zhou, Yuhui; Wang, Shaohua; Mei, Xi; Yin, Wangling; Lin, Chunfeng; Mao, Qingzhou

    2017-01-01

    Railway tunnel clearance is directly related to the safe operation of trains and upgrading of freight capacity. As more and more railway are put into operation and the operation is continuously becoming faster, the railway tunnel clearance inspection should be more precise and efficient. In view of the problems existing in traditional tunnel clearance inspection methods, such as low density, slow speed and a lot of manual operations, this paper proposes a tunnel clearance inspection approach based on 3D point clouds obtained by a mobile laser scanning system (MLS). First, a dynamic coordinate system for railway tunnel clearance inspection has been proposed. A rail line extraction algorithm based on 3D linear fitting is implemented from the segmented point cloud to establish a dynamic clearance coordinate system. Second, a method to seamlessly connect all rail segments based on the railway clearance restrictions, and a seamless rail alignment is formed sequentially from the middle tunnel section to both ends. Finally, based on the rail alignment and the track clearance coordinate system, different types of clearance frames are introduced for intrusion operation with the tunnel section to realize the tunnel clearance inspection. By taking the Shuanghekou Tunnel of the Chengdu–Kunming Railway as an example, when the clearance inspection is carried out by the method mentioned herein, its precision can reach 0.03 m, and difference types of clearances can be effectively calculated. This method has a wide application prospects. PMID:28880232

  19. Investigation on CWR longitudinal restraint behavior in winter rail break and summer destressing operations.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-08-01

    This report presents the results of investigations on the rail anchor/fastener effects on rail movement and the resulting rail force distribution in continuous welded rail (CWR) track during rail breaks and destressing operations. Two types of tests ...

  20. 49 CFR 210.9 - Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. 210.9 Section 210.9 Transportation Other Regulations... locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. A locomotive, rail car, or consist of a...

  1. 49 CFR 210.9 - Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. 210.9 Section 210.9 Transportation Other Regulations... locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. A locomotive, rail car, or consist of a...

  2. 49 CFR 210.9 - Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. 210.9 Section 210.9 Transportation Other Regulations... locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. A locomotive, rail car, or consist of a...

  3. 49 CFR 210.9 - Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. 210.9 Section 210.9 Transportation Other Regulations... locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. A locomotive, rail car, or consist of a...

  4. 49 CFR 210.9 - Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Movement of a noise defective locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. 210.9 Section 210.9 Transportation Other Regulations... locomotive, rail car, or consist of a locomotive and rail cars. A locomotive, rail car, or consist of a...

  5. Safety of high speed guided ground transportation systems. Magnetic and electric field testing of the French Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) rail systems. Volume 1. Analysis. Final report, September 1992-March 1993

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Dietrich, F.M.; Papas, P.N.; Jacobs, W.L.

    The safety of magnetically levitated (maglev) and high speed rail (HSR) trains proposed for application in the United States is the responsibility of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). A franchise has been awarded to the Texas high Speed Rail Corporation to operate a 200 mph French Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) in the Texas Triangle (Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio), with construction to begin in 1995. The report provides the Analysis (Vol. I) of results, and detailed data and statistical summaries (Vol. II, Appendices) of representative electric and magnetic field (EMF) profiles on TGV-A trains between Paris and Tours formore » two electro-technologies (1.5 KV DC near Paris, and 2x25 KV at 50 Hz AC).« less

  6. Safety of high speed guided ground transportation systems. Magnetic and electric field testing of the French Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) rail systems. Volume 2. Appendices. Final report, September 1992-March 1993

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Dietrich, F.M.; Jacobs, W.E.

    The safety of magnetically levitated (maglev) and high speed rail (HSR) trains proposed for application in the United States is the responsibility of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). A franchise has been awarded to the Texas High Speed Rail Corporation to operate a 200 mph French Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) in the Texas Triangle (Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio), with construction to begin in 1995. The report provides the Analysis (Vol. I) of results, and detailed data and statistical summaries (Vol. II, Appendices) of representative electric and magnetic field (EMF) profiles on TGV-A trains between Paris and Tours formore » two electro-technologies (1.5 KV DC near Paris, and 2x25 KV at 50 Hz AC).« less

  7. No-go theorem for passive single-rail linear optical quantum computing.

    PubMed

    Wu, Lian-Ao; Walther, Philip; Lidar, Daniel A

    2013-01-01

    Photonic quantum systems are among the most promising architectures for quantum computers. It is well known that for dual-rail photons effective non-linearities and near-deterministic non-trivial two-qubit gates can be achieved via the measurement process and by introducing ancillary photons. While in principle this opens a legitimate path to scalable linear optical quantum computing, the technical requirements are still very challenging and thus other optical encodings are being actively investigated. One of the alternatives is to use single-rail encoded photons, where entangled states can be deterministically generated. Here we prove that even for such systems universal optical quantum computing using only passive optical elements such as beam splitters and phase shifters is not possible. This no-go theorem proves that photon bunching cannot be passively suppressed even when extra ancilla modes and arbitrary number of photons are used. Our result provides useful guidance for the design of optical quantum computers.

  8. Dynamic investigation of a locomotive with effect of gear transmissions under tractive conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Zaigang; Zhai, Wanming; Wang, Kaiyun

    2017-11-01

    Locomotive is used to drag trailers to move or supply the braking forces to slow the running speed of a train. The electromagnetic torque of the motor is always transmitted by the gear transmission system to the wheelset for generation of the tractive or braking forces at the wheel-rail contact interface. Consequently, gear transmission system is significant for power delivery of a locomotive. This paper develops a comprehensive locomotive-track vertical-longitudinal coupled dynamics model with dynamic effect of gear transmissions. This dynamics model enables considering the coupling interactions between the gear transmission motion, the vertical and the longitudinal motions of the vehicle, and the vertical vibration of the track structure. In this study, some complicated dynamic excitations, such as the gear time-varying mesh stiffness, nonlinear gear tooth backlash, the nonlinear wheel-rail normal contact force and creep force, and the rail vertical geometrical irregularity, are considered. Then, the dynamic responses of the locomotive under the tractive conditions are demonstrated by numerical simulations based on the established dynamics model and by experimental test. The developed dynamics model is validated by the good agreement between the experimental and the theoretical results. The calculated results reveal that the gear transmission system has strong dynamic interactions with the wheel-rail contact interface including both the vertical and the longitudinal motions, and it has negligible effect on the vibrations of the bogie frame and carbody.

  9. Real-time and accurate rail wear measurement method and experimental analysis.

    PubMed

    Liu, Zhen; Li, Fengjiao; Huang, Bangkui; Zhang, Guangjun

    2014-08-01

    When a train is running on uneven or curved rails, it generates violent vibrations on the rails. As a result, the light plane of the single-line structured light vision sensor is not vertical, causing errors in rail wear measurements (referred to as vibration errors in this paper). To avoid vibration errors, a novel rail wear measurement method is introduced in this paper, which involves three main steps. First, a multi-line structured light vision sensor (which has at least two linear laser projectors) projects a stripe-shaped light onto the inside of the rail. Second, the central points of the light stripes in the image are extracted quickly, and the three-dimensional profile of the rail is obtained based on the mathematical model of the structured light vision sensor. Then, the obtained rail profile is transformed from the measurement coordinate frame (MCF) to the standard rail coordinate frame (RCF) by taking the three-dimensional profile of the measured rail waist as the datum. Finally, rail wear constraint points are adopted to simplify the location of the rail wear points, and the profile composed of the rail wear points are compared with the standard rail profile in RCF to determine the rail wear. Both real data experiments and simulation experiments show that the vibration errors can be eliminated when the proposed method is used.

  10. Research on the Diesel Engine with Sliding Mode Variable Structure Theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Zhexuan; Mao, Xiaobing; Cai, Le

    2018-05-01

    This study constructed the nonlinear mathematical model of the diesel engine high-pressure common rail (HPCR) system through two polynomial fitting which was treated as a kind of affine nonlinear system. Based on sliding-mode variable structure control (SMVSC) theory, a sliding-mode controller for affine nonlinear systems was designed for achieving the control of common rail pressure and the diesel engine’s rotational speed. Finally, on the simulation platform of MATLAB, the designed nonlinear HPCR system was simulated. The simulation results demonstrated that sliding-mode variable structure control algorithm shows favourable control performances which are overcoming the shortcomings of traditional PID control in overshoot, parameter adjustment, system precision, adjustment time and ascending time.

  11. An improved AE detection method of rail defect based on multi-level ANC with VSS-LMS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Xin; Cui, Yiming; Wang, Yan; Sun, Mingjian; Hu, Hengshan

    2018-01-01

    In order to ensure the safety and reliability of railway system, Acoustic Emission (AE) method is employed to investigate rail defect detection. However, little attention has been paid to the defect detection at high speed, especially for noise interference suppression. Based on AE technology, this paper presents an improved rail defect detection method by multi-level ANC with VSS-LMS. Multi-level noise cancellation based on SANC and ANC is utilized to eliminate complex noises at high speed, and tongue-shaped curve with index adjustment factor is proposed to enhance the performance of variable step-size algorithm. Defect signals and reference signals are acquired by the rail-wheel test rig. The features of noise signals and defect signals are analyzed for effective detection. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing with the previous study, and different filter lengths are investigated to obtain a better noise suppression performance. Meanwhile, the detection ability of the proposed method is verified at the top speed of the test rig. The results clearly illustrate that the proposed method is effective in detecting rail defects at high speed, especially for noise interference suppression.

  12. Application of Multifunctional Doppler LIDAR for Noncontact Track Speed, Distance, and Curvature Assessment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Munoz, Joshua

    The primary focus of this research is evaluation of feasibility, applicability, and accuracy of Doppler Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) sensors as non-contact means for measuring track speed, distance traveled, and curvature. Speed histories, currently measured with a rotary, wheelmounted encoder, serve a number of useful purposes, one significant use involving derailment investigations. Distance calculation provides a spatial reference system for operators to locate track sections of interest. Railroad curves, using an IMU to measure curvature, are monitored to maintain track infrastructure within regulations. Speed measured with high accuracy leads to highfidelity distance and curvature data through utilization of processor clock rate and left-and rightrail speed differentials during curve navigation, respectively. Wheel-mounted encoders, or tachometers, provide a relatively low-resolution speed profile, exhibit increased noise with increasing speed, and are subject to the inertial behavior of the rail car which affects output data. The IMU used to measure curvature is dependent on acceleration and yaw rate sensitivity and experiences difficulty in low-speed conditions. Preliminary system tests onboard a "Hy-Rail" utility vehicle capable of traveling on rail show speed capture is possible using the rails as the reference moving target and furthermore, obtaining speed profiles from both rails allows for the calculation of speed differentials in curves to estimate degrees curvature. Ground truth distance calibration and curve measurement were also carried out. Distance calibration involved placement of spatial landmarks detected by a sensor to synchronize distance measurements as a pre-processing procedure. Curvature ground truth measurements provided a reference system to confirm measurement results and observe alignment variation throughout a curve. Primary testing occurred onboard a track geometry rail car, measuring rail speed over substantial mileage in various weather conditions, providing highaccuracy data to further calculate distance and curvature along the test routes. Tests results indicate the LIDAR system measures speed at higher accuracy than the encoder, absent of noise influenced by increasing speed. Distance calculation is also high in accuracy, results showing high correlation with encoder and ground truth data. Finally, curvature calculation using speed data is shown to have good correlation with IMU measurements and a resolution capable of revealing localized track alignments. Further investigations involve a curve measurement algorithm and speed calibration method independent from external reference systems, namely encoder and ground truth data. The speed calibration results show a high correlation with speed data from the track geometry vehicle. It is recommended that the study be extended to provide assessment of the LIDAR's sensitivity to car body motion in order to better isolate the embedded behavior in the speed and curvature profiles. Furthermore, in the interest of progressing the system toward a commercially viable unit, methods for self-calibration and pre-processing to allow for fully independent operation is highly encouraged.

  13. Design of a Rail Gun System for Mitigating Disruptions in Fusion Reactors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lay, Wei-Siang

    Magnetic fusion devices, such as the tokamak, that carry a large amount of current to generate the plasma confining magnetic fields have the potential to lose magnetic stability control. This can lead to a major plasma disruption, which can cause most of the stored plasma energy to be lost to localized regions on the walls, causing severe damage. This is the most important issue for the $20B ITER device (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) that is under construction in France. By injecting radiative materials deep into the plasma, the plasma energy could be dispersed more evenly on the vessel surface thus mitigating the harmful consequences of a disruption. Methods currently planned for ITER rely on the slow expansion of gases to propel the radiative payloads, and they also need to be located far away from the reactor vessel, which further slows down the response time of the system. Rail guns are being developed for aerospace applications, such as for mass transfer from the surface of the moon and asteroids to low earth orbit. A miniatured version of this aerospace technology seems to be particularly well suited to meet the fast time response needs of an ITER disruption mitigation system. Mounting this device close to the reactor vessel is also possible, which substantially increases its performance because the stray magnetic fields near the vessel walls could be used to augment the rail gun generated magnetic fields. In this thesis, the potential viability on Rail Gun based DMS is studied to investigate its projected fast time response capability by design, fabrication, and experiment of an NSTX-U sized rail gun system. Material and geometry based tests are used to find the most suitable armature design for this system for which the desirable attributes are high specific stiffness and high electrical conductivity. With the best material in these studies being aluminum 7075, the experimental Electromagnetic Particle Injector (EPI) system has propelled an aluminum armature (weighing 3g) to a velocity more than 150 m/s within two milliseconds post trigger, consistent with the predicted projection for a system with those parameters. Fixed magnetic field probes and high-speed images capture the velocity profile. To propel the armatures, a 20 mF capacitor bank charged to 2 kV and augmented with external field coils powers the rails. These studies indicate that an EPI based system can indeed operate with a fast response time of less than three milliseconds after an impending disruption is detected, and thus warrants further studies to more fully develop the concept as a back-up option for an ITER DMS.

  14. 49 CFR Appendix A to Part 211 - Statement of Agency Policy Concerning Waivers Related to Shared Use of Trackage or Rights-of-Way...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... rail crossing at grade, a shared method of train control, or shared highway-rail grade crossings. 4... waiver petitions, a Petition for Approval of Shared Use will be reviewed by the Safety Board. A non.... You should explain the nature of such simultaneous joint use, the system of train control, the...

  15. Hardware Development and Error Characterization for the AFIT RAIL SAR System

    DTIC Science & Technology

    This research is focused on updating the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) Radar Instrumentation Lab (RAIL)Synthetic Aperture Radar ( SAR ...collections from a receiver in motion. Secondly, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals are used to form ( SAR ) images in multiple...experimental and simulation configurations. This research analyses, characterizes and attempts compensation of relevant SAR image error sources, such as Doppler

  16. 49 CFR Appendix A to Part 211 - Statement of Agency Policy Concerning Waivers Related to Shared Use of Trackage or Rights-of-Way...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... not designed to be used in situations where there is a reasonable likelihood of a collision with much... rail crossing at grade, a shared method of train control, or shared highway-rail grade crossings. 4.... You should explain the nature of such simultaneous joint use, the system of train control, the...

  17. Photovoltaic array with minimally penetrating rooftop support system

    DOEpatents

    Lenox, Carl J.S.

    2012-10-23

    A photovoltaic array including a plurality of photovoltaic assemblies and a plurality of mounting units. The mounting units each include an elongate rail and a plurality of leg assemblies. The rail is sized and configured to maintain a portion of at least two of the photovoltaic assemblies, with the leg assemblies extending from the rail in a spaced-apart fashion and terminating in a foot for placement against a rooftop structure for minimally penetration installation. Further, at least one of the leg assemblies can include a retractable leg. When the photovoltaic array is installed to a rooftop structure including a membrane intermittently secured to a rooftop deck, the retractable leg accommodates upward billowing of the membrane under windy conditions.

  18. Effect of discrete track support by sleepers on rail corrugation at a curved track

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jin, X. S.; Wen, Z. F.

    2008-08-01

    The paper investigates into the effect of discrete track support by sleepers on the initiation and development of rail corrugation at a curved track when a railway vehicle passes through using a numerical method. The numerical method considers a combination of Kalker's rolling contact theory with non-Hertzian form, a linear frictional work model and a dynamics model of a half railway vehicle coupled with the curved track. The half-vehicle has a two-axle bogie and doubled suspension systems. It is treated as a full dynamic rigid multi-body model. In the track model, an Euler beam is used to model the rail, and the discrete track support by sleepers moving backward with respect to the vehicle running direction is considered to simulate the effect of the discrete sleeper support on the wheels/rails in rolling contact when the vehicle moves on the track. The sleeper is treated as a rigid body and the ballast bed is replaced with equivalent mass bodies. The numerical analysis exams in detail the variations of wheel/rail normal loads, the creepages, and the rail wear volume along the curved track. Their variations are much concerned with the discrete track support. The numerical results show that the discrete track support causes the fluctuating of the normal loads and creepages at a few frequencies. These frequencies comprise the passing frequency of the sleepers and the excited track resonant frequencies, which are higher than the sleeper passing frequency. Consequently, rail corrugation with several wavelengths initiates and develops. Also the results show that the contact vibrating between the curved rails and the four wheels of the same bogie has different frequencies. In this way, the different key frequencies to be excited play an important role in the initiation and development of curved rail corrugation. Therefore, the corrugations caused by the four wheels of the same bogie present different wavelengths. The paper shows and discusses the depths of the initial corrugations caused by the four wheels of the same bogie, at the entering transition curve, the circle curve and the exit transition curve of the curved track, respectively.

  19. 40 CFR 201.13 - Standard for rail car operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Standard for rail car operations. 201... Interstate Rail Carrier Operations Standards § 201.13 Standard for rail car operations. Effective December 31, 1976, no carrier subject to this regulation shall operate any rail car or combination of rail cars...

  20. 40 CFR 201.13 - Standard for rail car operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Standard for rail car operations. 201... Interstate Rail Carrier Operations Standards § 201.13 Standard for rail car operations. Effective December 31, 1976, no carrier subject to this regulation shall operate any rail car or combination of rail cars...

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