Railroad communications and train control : report to Congress

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Automatic Train Control Communication Systems
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• OCLC Number:
  61307841
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Railroad Administration
• NTL Classification:
  NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITY ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Human Factors
• Abstract:
  Recent tragedies in the railroad industry have again focused attention on the prospects for
  
  improving railroad safety through enhanced radio communication and implementation of
  
  advanced train control systems (ATCS). ATCS has the potential to prevent future accidents
  
  such as the collision between multiple-unit commuter trains at Gary, Indiana, on January 18,
  
  1993, in which seven passengers died, and the collision between trains of the Union Pacific
  
  and Burlington Northern railroads at Longview (Kelso), Washington, on November 11,
  
  1993, in which five employees lost their lives.
  
  The Clinton Administration is strongly committed to improving safety on all modes of
  
  transportation, and this objective is one of the seven core goals of the Department of
  
  Transportation's Strategic Plan announced by Secretary Federico Peiia in January 1994. In
  
  this report, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) expands on a Congressional mandate
  
  to evaluate ATCS and enhanced radio communications and finds that positive train control
  
  (PTC)--which, as a component of ATCS, can enforce speed and movement restrictions-is
  
  nearing a point at which it can begin to be used on railroads to eliminate injuries and deaths
  
  caused by train-to-train collisions. FRA recommends a series of steps to encourage the
  
  implementation of PTC systems on high-risk rail corridors by the year 2000.
  
  Both through the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and through individual
  
  companies' efforts, the railroad industry has made great strides towards the development of
  
  ATCS over the last twelve years. The AAR has developed technological standards to ensure
  
  that equipment from different suppliers will be compatible, and certain railroads have
  
  implemented basic ATCS technologies for purposes such as replacement of landline
  
  communications. However, ATCS systems are not yet available in off-the-shelf form, nor is
  
  much of the research and development necessary to full implementation completed.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  Federal Railroad Administration Volpe Center
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:17969e10167ce6c48fc616910d7edfac663d06f985e4adfb754ba335ff984113
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/8656/dot_8656_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 8.93 MB ]