Details:

Creators:
Carolan, Michael E. ; Sullivan, Laura
Carolan, Michael E. ; Sullivan, Laura Less -
Corporate Creators:
John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
High Speed Rail Positive Train Control Prevention Railroad Grade Crossings Railroad Safety
Publication/ Report Number:
JRC2011-56074
Resource Type:
Proceedings
Corporate Publisher:
United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development
NTL Classification:
NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-High Speed Ground Transportation;NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-RAIL TRANSPORTATION;NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail Planning and Policy;NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail Safety;NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail Safety;
Abstract:
Currently, multiple operating authorities are proposing the

introduction of high-speed rail service in the United States.

While high-speed rail service shares a number of basic

principles with conventional-speed rail service, the operational

requirements on a high-speed rail system are typically more

demanding than those for conventional-speed operations. The

operating environment will require specialized maintenance

and inspection procedures, enhanced protection or gradeseparation

of highway-rail crossings, effective separation of

other rail traffic, and detection of potential hazards along the

track to help ensure the safety of the system. With the required

implementation of positive train control (PTC) by passengercarrying

rail operators, the frequency and/or severity of several

types of railroad accidents can be decreased. While all of these

measures will contribute to the overall system safety, incidents

that pose a threat to passenger and crew safety may still occur

that cannot be prevented through the design of the operating

environment alone. It is important to consider these types of

incidents when selecting the rail vehicles for use in a particular

operation, and include appropriate crashworthiness and

occupant protection measures.

This paper presents a series of example scenarios of some of

the potential hazards that may affect the safe operation of highspeed

passenger trains in the United States. These situations

are drawn from actual accidents that have occurred in the U.S.

and abroad. The scenarios provide a starting point for

discussing system safety features, which includes vehicle

crashworthiness and occupant protection features.

As an operating environment may be designed to limit the

likelihood of certain types of incidents from occurring, three

different hypothetical high-speed operating environments are

discussed in this paper. While the number of potential

scenarios varies with each operating environment, in all

environments it is important to consider the need for a train’s

crashworthiness features to mitigate the consequences of

potential incidents.


Format:
PDF
Collection(s):
Volpe Federal Railroad Administration
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:3a1129c06c032b0d45879af4d77254bdf3a564ee0214a73f823eddd1857deaa8
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/9130/dot_9130_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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