The Federal Railroad Administration sponsored a full-scale train-to-train crash energy management (CEM) technology test that was conducted on March 23, 2006, at the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado. The Volpe National Transportation Center directed and coordinated the contractors who implemented the test and developed the technical requirements for the test, including the conditions, the equipment tested, and the measurements made. This report describes the installation details and the results of the five occupant protection experiments conducted as part of Task Order...

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 (HSR) corridor between Chicago and St Louis. A total of 69 highway-rail grade crossings on a 121-mile (195 km) segment of the 280-mile corridor were equipped with four-quadrant gates and inductive loop vehicle detection technology. This segment, between Mazonia and Springfield Illinois, will eventually carry passenger trains at speeds up to 110 mph...

The Public Education and Enforcement Research Study (PEERS) was a collaborative effort between the Federal Railroad Administration, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and local communities in the Stateof Illinois. Thisproject was designed to promote safety at highway-rail grade crossings.The role of the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Centerwas to monitor and evaluate highway-rail grade crossings in Illinois communities using video data collection, while the communities conducted education and enforcement campaigns. The effectiveness of the programs was determined by counting the...

Locations of railroad right-of-way incidents in this research were identified as hotspots. These can be defined as highway-rail grade crossings or locations along the railroad right-of-way where collision or trespassing risk is unacceptably high and intervention is justified because the potential safety benefits exceed the cost of intervention. This project categorizes the hotspots as grade crossing and trespass incident hotspots. Mathematical models and theories are researched to see which ones may be used in identifying the hotspots. For the analysis of grade crossing incident hotspots, the...

The handbookis intended as guidance for those conducting sound level measurements for railroad regulatory compliance under 40CFR Part 201 and 49CFR Parts 210, 222, 227, 228, and 229. Specifically, it addresses 1) noise generated by locomotives and rail-cars during line haul operations, 2) noise generated by yard operations from stationary locomotives, locomotive switching, car-coupling impacts, retarders, and load cell test stands, 3) locomotive horn sound levels, 4) noise levels inside locomotive cabs, 5) noise levels inside employee sleeping quarters, and 6) train employee occupational...

On July 14-16, 2009 the Volpe Center hosted the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Third Research Needs Workshop on Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safetyand Trespass Prevention (workshop). The primary purpose of this workshop was to bring together nationally and internationallyrecognized subject matter experts to collaborate, identify and prioritize specific research needs to facilitate the reduction of highway-rail grade crossing and trespass incidents and fatalities for incorporation into the strategic vision of FRA, other USDOT modes and...

In 2008, there were 2,395 incidents at highway-rail intersections(level crossings) inthe United States, resulting in 939 injuries and 287 fatalities. Crossing elimination, grade separation, and the implementation of traditional warning devices arenot always economically feasible. The development of new intelligent transportation systems and the advancement of such technologies could potentially provide a solution to enhance safety at these intersections.

The manual shows a list of FARS elements that have substantial changes for 2008. These changes, as well as others, are highlighted throughout the manual by bold/italic type and a pointing hand graphic.

This report documents the results of a study to characterize episodes of driver drowsiness and to assess the impact of drowsiness on driving performance. This data mining effort performed additional analyses on the data collected in an earlier FMCSA study of the effects of fatigue on drivers in local/short haul operations. The primary objectives of the study were to investigate drowsiness as a naturally occurring phenomenon by identifying and characterizing episodes of drowsiness that occurred during every period of driving and to determine the operational or driving-environment factors...

This report presents an overview of the efforts to develop a convenient procedure to stimulate operation of motor vehicles on highway of an arbitrary configuration and to estimate fuel consumption and exhaust emissions resulting from reasonable operations of those vehicles.