John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)

DTRS-57-89

Tech Report

United States. Federal Railroad Administration

NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITY ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Human Factors ;

As part of the National Maglev Initiative (NMI), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) solicited proposals to conceptually define the technical feasibility, performance and costs of constructing and operating Maglev systems in the United States. Four teams were selected to prepare System Concept Definition (SCD) documents for their respective designs: Magneplane,Foster-Miller,Grumman and Bechtel. The FRA requested support from the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (VNTSC) to conduct a system safety review of each of the SCDs. Current FRA regulations are primarily technology-specific and based upon years of steel wheel, steel rail operating experience. Because the design of maglev systems is still in the conceptual phase, detailed design information is not presently available. However, top level safety analyses can be prepared and were required as part of each contractor's SCD. FRA requirements for each SCD included definition of a system safety program and preparation of a structured hazard analysis.

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Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center
Federal Railroad Administration