Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights - May/June 2003

Safety

Supporting Alternative-Fuel Vehicles in Transit (FTA)

Vehicles that run on alternative fuels offer many benefits, including lower vehicle emissions and less dependence on foreign fuel sources, but if this new technology is to be safely integrated into the nation's transportation system, critical issues must be addressed. For several years, the Volpe Center has been actively involved in work on codes, standards, and recommended practices for hydrogen and other alternative fuel vehicles, as well as related infrastructure. These activities are part of the ongoing technical support that the Volpe Center provides to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Office of Technology, to help ensure the safety and security of the public transit bus fleet and infrastructure.

The Volpe Center also supports the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the National Park Service in efforts to safely deploy and evaluate fuel cell and advanced propulsion vehicles.

In March 2003, the Volpe Center published a final report for the FTA's Clean Air Program: Design Guidelines for Transit Systems Using Electric and Hybrid Electric Propulsion as an Alternative Fuel. This document is the last in a series that describes recommended practices--particularly focusing on safety--for transit buses, operations, and infrastructure. Other documents in the series, also prepared by the Volpe Center, have focused on compressed natural gas, hydrogen, liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas, and methanol/ethanol.

The use of electric and hybrid electric buses is expected to increase dramatically over the next five years. The goal of this document is to offer transit operators the greatest chance of success when integrating these advanced technology buses into the transit system. Incorporating substantial input from many industry leaders and users, the report provides an overview of the state of the art, a set of lessons learned, and general guidance. The importance of training for operations, maintenance, and emergency response personnel is emphasized and suggestions for specific training, design, and procurement requirements are described.

Mr. William Chernicoff of the Volpe Center's Service and Operations Assessment Division and Volpe Center contractors from MJ Bradley Associates and TMS Inc. coauthored the report, available at http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov/Publications/default.asp#CleanAir.

Assessing Safety and Security Readiness of Rail Transit (FTA)

Photo of a Tren Urbano rail car at a transit station now under construction.

A Volpe-led team recently reviewed the Tren Urbano rail transit system to help ensure that it is ready to provide safe and secure service when its first phase begins operating in late 2003.

Concern about catastrophic accidents or security incidents on rail transit systems led to the creation of the State Safety Oversight (SSO) Rule for Rail Fixed Guideways, which requires that states oversee the safety and security of rail transit systems. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) developed the rule and monitors its implementation. The Volpe Center assists FTA in this effort through audits and compliance monitoring, policy and regulatory analysis, and information sharing.

To support Puerto Rico's State Safety Oversight Agency in meeting SSO requirements, an FTA-sponsored Transit Safety and Security team, led by Mr. Bob Adduci of Volpe's Railroad Systems Division, visited the Tren Urbano rail transit system. Now under construction, when finished Tren Urbano will serve Metropolitan San Juan; the first phase is expected to be complete in September 2003. The visit, conducted March 2 - 7, 2003, achieved the following objectives.

Assessed Puerto Rico's SSO program and the level of compliance of the Tren Urbano system with Puerto Rico's program, including the system's readiness to provide safe and secure service at startup.
Provided focused technical assistance using recommendations from "safety and security lessons learned" by other transit providers.
Attended to safety and security concerns during the period from startup testing to revenue operations.
Established the baseline for ongoing FTA technical assistance and for state actions to address concerns identified in the assessment.

Volpe led a similar assessment of the Utah Transit Authority's Olympic Transportation Plan in 2001 before the startup of light rail revenue service in Salt Lake City to transport spectators during the 2002 Olympic Games.

Volpe Report Gains Attention as Useful Resource (FTA)

The Volpe analysis allows FTA to determine whether the current program is operating effectively and efficiently while providing options to optimize results.

During the last several months, a document developed by Volpe's Railroad Systems Division has been receiving attention. "FTA Drug and Alcohol Program Assessment," written for the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Office of Safety and Security, determines the progress of the FTA's Drug and Alcohol Compliance Program in meeting U.S. DOT and FTA strategic goals and objectives. Transit systems that receive funds from FTA must conduct drug and alcohol testing of employees who perform safety-sensitive functions.

The Volpe assessment synthesizes economic and safety benefit models; it uses data from the Drug and Alcohol Program and the National Transit Database, as well as other benchmarks from the substance abuse prevention industry and other government agencies. It demonstrates tremendous economic and safety benefits resulting from the testing program. The assessment has been the subject of lead stories in the journal American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine's Medical Review Officer Update as well as the newsletter FTA Drug and Alcohol Regulation Updates. It has also been used as source material by several transit agencies to defend testing programs. Notably, it was employed as key evidence by the California State's Attorney's Office and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Office of the Inspector General in defending a lawsuit related to the Authority's testing program. Mr. Jerry Powers of the Railroad Systems Division is the primary author of the report, which can be found at http://www.transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov/publications/substance/DAPA/DAPA.pdf.

Understanding Close Calls in the Railroad Industry (FRA)

Common Features of Successful Close-Call Systems
Encouraging employees to disclose safety-critical information requires a sense of trust. Features of successful systems include:
• Confidential reporting
• Collection and storage of information by a third party
• Limited protection of sources from liability or enforcement.

A close call is "an opportunity to improve safety practices in a situation or incident that has a potential for more serious consequences." Analyzing close calls enables railroads to proactively manage safety. When individual events are analyzed collectively, railroads can identify safety hazards and develop solutions to these threats. On April 23 and 24, 2003, in Baltimore, Maryland, the Volpe Center conducted a meeting sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to educate the railroad industry on the benefits of understanding close calls.

Presentations covered close call systems in the airline industry, the United Kingdom railway industry, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. Participants discussed lessons learned from their personal close calls, benefits and barriers to implementing a close-call system, and steps toward developing such a system. This effort is part of the Center's support to the FRA's Office of Research and Development.

Dr. Jordan Multer of Volpe's Operator Performance and Safety Analysis Division and Dr. Thomas Raslear of the FRA's Equipment and Operating Practices Division organized the workshop.

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