As part of an effort to apply damage tolerance concepts to railroad tank cars, the fatigue crack growth (FCG) behavior of two lots of TC-128B steel was investigated. In addition to the material lot difference, variables assessed include: load ratio, orientation, environment, and crack growth test technique. The two material lots yielded essentially identical FCG properties for low and high stress ratios. The influence of stress ratio was slight, except in the near-threshold regime.

Under sponsorship from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Research and Development, the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center performed an evaluation of the four-quadrant gate/obstruction detection system at the School Street crossing in Groton, CT. The primary objectives of this evaluation were to assess the safety benefits and to document the operational performance provided by this non-standard technology. Highway-railroad grade crossing risk mitigation research in the United States has historically focused on the safety benefits of active warning devices, such as flashing lights, bells, and dual crossing gates. In addition, clear agreement has predominated within the research community that grade separation or closure provides the highest level of risk treatment. As the economic and societal costs of these treatments have increased, however, research has been increasingly concentrated on technologies that provide many of the same benefits without the obtrusiveness of grade separation or closure.

Performance based navigation (PBN), an enabler for the Federal Aviation Administration's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), supports the design of more precise flight procedures. However, these new procedures can be visually complex, which may impact the usability of charts that depict the procedures. This study evaluated whether there are performance benefits from simplifying aeronautical charts by separating visually complex area navigation (RNAV) and required navigation performance (RNP) procedures onto different chart images. Forty-seven professional pilots who were qualified to operate with RNAV and RNP participated. They used high-fidelity current and modified charts to find specific information from RNAV (RNP) approach and RNAV Standard Instrument Departure (SID) chart images that were shown one at a time on a computer monitor. Response time and accuracy were recorded.

This is the secondof two volumes of the report on modeling cumulative noise from simultaneous flights. This volume examines the effect of several modeling input cases on Percent Time Audible results calculated by the Integrated Noise Model. The cases presented in this volume include changes to ambient noise input typeas well as changes to sampling duration for ambient inputs. The results are comparedwith thosepresentedin the Volume 1 report.

This is Volume II-Appendices of Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior of Railroad Tank Car Steel TC-128B Subjected to Various Environments. This document contains miscellaneous supporting documentation, fatigue crack growth laboratory data, and analyses.

This report covers the theoretical development of the safety state model for railroad operations. Using data from a train control technology experiment, experimental application of the model is demonstrated. A stochastic model of system behavior is developed which is used to estimate the dynamic risk probability in a human-machine system. This model is based on a discrete Markov process model. Based on observer behavior of an existing system, the model is used to determine an instantaneous risk probability function, which is dependent on the system state.

This document... Provides an inventory of existing sources of bicycle and pedestrian-related data, including the extent, quality, and limitations of these sources; Identifies and prioritizes areas in which additional or improved data are needed; and Identifies and recommends opportunities for improving the quality of bicycle and pedestrian data.

This report describes an experiment evaluating the effects of supervisory control automation on attention allocation while operating a train. The study compared two levels of supervisory control (partial and full) to manual control, in terms of how it affects vigilance detection and situation awareness. Human performance was measured using a human-in-the-loop train simulator. To evaluate vigilance, participants were asked to detect two types of automation failures and react to obstructions on the track. Situation awareness was measured using the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT) in which the simulation was suspended at periodic intervals and the subjects answered questions about the system. These answers were compared to objective measures of system performance.

Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Systems(TCAS) displaysdepict traffic advisories, resolution advisories, and information on other aircraft. Symbols for other aircraftinclude the proximate status indication where the symbolsof"proximate" (close) aircraftare filled and the symbols of "non-proximate" (more distant) aircraftare not filled. This web-based study examined the value of the proximate status indication as represented by symbol fillto assess implications for Cockpit Displays of Traffic Information (CDTIs), and found no advantage for it, only a disadvantage.

Infrastructure consists of the basic facilities - such as transportation and communications systems, utilities, and public institutions - needed for the functioning of a community or society. Sometimes the development of these facilities can negatively impact habitat and ecosystems. Techniques have been developed to better avoid, minimize, and mitigate these impacts, as well as the impacts of past infrastructure projects. However, the avoidance, minimization, and mitigation efforts used may not always provide the greatest environmental benefit, or may do very little to promote ecosystem sustainability.

This guide is about designing highways that incorporate community values and are safe, efficient, effective mechanisms for the movement of people and goods. It is written for highway engineers and project managers who want to learn more about the flexibility available to them when designing roads and illustrates successful approaches use in other highway projects.

This report has been prepared for Dr. Paul Rispin, Office of Naval Research (ONR), as part of the research conducted by the Volpe Center in collaboration with the Center for Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies (CCDoTT). The report, originally submitted in a Draft form on June 30, 2009, was intended to build on the multi-year research conducted at the Volpe Center and the CCDoTT on Agile Port Systems and High-Speed Ship technologies to assess the feasibility of dual-use deployment of the vessels. The project activities included the demonstration of the feasibility of domestic container feeder ports for a transportation and logistics system based on a generic short sea vessel focusing on the West Coast operations for both domestic and international traffic.

The Baltimore City DOT requested the U.S. DOT's John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) to assist the City in improving residents' quality of life and the ease of businesses in moving freight in and through the far southeast of Baltimore City. This historically industrial area, often referred to as Dundalk, has seen an increase in freight movement over time as the volume of the area's port operations has increased and more truck traffic is required to move goods locally, regionally and nationally. At the same time, area residents have grown increasingly concerned about the impacts of local truck traffic on their quality of life. Given the needs of both businesses and residents, Volpe designed the Dundalk Area Truck Impact Study to identify primary truck-related issues among these groups and other interested parties, and to craft solutions that address their interests while being feasible for the City to pursue.

This report summarizes the results of an evaluation of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Focused Approach to Pedestrian Safety Program. The study was done by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center at the request of the FHWA Office of Safety (HSA). Five of the 19 "focus" locations were chosen for this evaluation based on geographic diversity, number and types of Program activities, and the availability of data about Program implementation. The study consisted of semistructured telephone interviews with 29 pedestrian safety stakeholders (mostly from government agencies) across the five locations.

About 7:00 a.m. on January 30, 2000, eastbound loaded CSX Transportation coal train V986-26 lost effective braking while descending a section of track known as "17-mile grade" from Altamont to Bloomington, Maryland, and derailed 76 or its 80 "bathtub" high-side gondola cars when the train failed to negotiate curves at excessive speed.

About 6:10 a.m., central daylight time, on September 2, 1998, the 17th through 19th cars and the first two platforms of the five-platform 20th car of westbound Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company intermodal freight train S-CHILAC1-31 derailed at Crisfield, Kansas. The derailment resulted in a pileup involving four articulated multiplatform cars carrying intermodal shipping containers. Some of the containers were breached, resulting in the release of hazardous materials and fires. About 200 people were evacuated, but no injuries resulted from either the derailment or the hazardous materials releases. Estimated damage was $1.3 million.

About 1:58 a.m. eastern standard time on January 17, 1999, three Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) freight trains operating in fog on a double main track were involved in an accident near Bryan, Ohio. Westbound Mail-9, traveling near maximum authorized speed on track No. 1, struck the rear of a slower moving westbound train, TV-7, at milepost 337.22. The collision caused the derailment of the 3 locomotive units and the first 13 cars of Mail-9 and the last 3 cars of TV-7. The derailed equipment fouled the No. 2 track area and struck the 12th car of train MGL-16, which was operating eastbound on the adjacent track. The impact caused 18 cars in the MGL-16 consist to derail. The engineer and conductor of Mail-9 were killed in the accident. The crewmembers of TV-7 and MGL-16 were not injured. Total estimated damages were $5.3 million.