Heavy Axle Study: Impact of Higher Rail Car Weight Limits on Short-Line Railroads: Volume I: Final Report

Details

• Creators:
  Laman, J. A. ; Leighty, C. ; Gittings, G. L. ; Erdogmus, E. ; Boothby, T. E.
• Corporate Creators:
  Pennsylvania Transportation Institute
• Corporate Contributors:
  Pennsylvania. Dept. of Transportation. Bureau of Planning and Research ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration ; University-Based Research, Education, and Technology Transfer Program
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Axle loads
  • Bridges
  • Railroad cars
  • Railroad tracks
  • Short line railroads
  • Railroads
  • Economics
  • Freight transportation
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/PA-2001-011-97-04 (I) ; PTI 2001-26-I
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Pennsylvania ; United States
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Pennsylvania. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Planning and Research ; Pennsylvania State University. The Pennsylvania Transportation Institute
• Abstract:
  The current Class 1 railroad trend is beginning to require that short-line railroads accept heavy axle cars beyond the previous standard 263,000-lb gross car weight. Given the nature of the short-line railroad infrastructure in Pennsylvania, these heavier cars are expected to be met under-capacity of both track structures and bridge structures. The economics of short-line railroads are such that it is important that Class 1 railroads be able to meet this new demand; therefore, the present study has been undertaken to begin the statewide assessment of the short-line railroad ability to support heavier loads. In the economic interest of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the present study was funded to estimate the cost for a statewide upgrade of the short-line infrastructure to accommodate the 315,000-lb and 286,000-lb gross car weights. This project investigated the infrastructure of short-line railroads to safely support 315,000-lb and 286,000-lb gross car weights through a bridge statistical sampling scheme and a track survey.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  Agreement No. 359704 ; Work order 27
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/60713/dot_60713_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 6.75 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:28a65ef09b90bd1ed49d6859b222e76cb5f6394e263ba28a5cc1c74ce8e0b492