Details:

Creators:
Ma, Z. John ; Clarke, David B.
Ma, Z. John ; Clarke, David B. Less -
Corporate Contributors:
National University Rail Center (U.S.)
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
High Speed Rail High Speed Track Railroad Bridges
Resource Type:
Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:
United States
Corporate Publisher:
National University Rail Center (U.S.)
Abstract:
As the country continues to grow, the USDOT understands that the transportation system will

continue to evolve to meet the demands of the future. A balanced use of all modes of public

transportation, for both individuals and freight, will be required to meet the country’s future

transportation needs. An underutilized mode of public transportation is the nation’s rail system.

Rail transportation of passengers is safer than highway travel, generates less emissions per unit

transported than either highway or air, is more energy efficient than any other transportation

mode, and inherently has a lower transportation cost per unit mile.

Recently, the USDOT has sponsored the formulation of the National University Rail (NURail)

Center. The NURail consortium has selected shared rail corridors as the central theme of its

proposed research program. Currently, the rail systems in the U.S. are designed to support heavy

freight train traffic. As High-Speed Rail (HSR) becomes a more vital asset to our nation’s

infrastructure, there are many elements of the existing rail network that need to be tailored to

address safety concerns as well as the maintenance of dual purpose assets that service both HSR

passenger traffic and shared revenue service lines. However, development of incremental HSR

lines in the U.S. poses a number of new challenges related to existing railroad. On the other

hand, China has gone through similar upgrades and accumulated many experiences.

1.2 Objectives and Focus Areas

The purpose of the tour was to investigate and document the applications and experiences with

shared rail corridors in China, especially regarding China’s six different rail speed upgrades.

The team conducted meetings with government agencies, academia, and private sector

organizations to evaluate the Chinese railroad bridge system and issues identified in China

when their railroad speed was increased six different times. This will be done so as to compare

US railroad bridge systems with Chinese railroad bridge systems and to identify the most

significant technologies for implementation in the United States, and propose strategies to

accommodate a higher speed for the nation’s shared rail corridors.

The following activities were undertaken:

1. Visited the China Academy of Railway Science and consulted with several experts on the

general experience


Format:
PDF
Funding:
NURail Project ID: NURail2012-UTK-R01 ; Grant Number: DTRT12-G-UTC18
NURail Project ID: NURail2012-UTK-R01 ; Grant Number: DTRT12-G-UTC18 Less -
Collection(s):
US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:8618afc43b9fda4c73cc9d05a25c78aab6c6df89fcdf761ad240318a8206ed55
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/31426/dot_31426_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

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