Volpe Center Highlights
Safety
Focus |
Safety |
Mobility |
Human and Natural Environment |
Economic Growth and Trade |
National Security |
Published and Presented
Promote public health and safety by working toward the elimination of transportation-related deaths, injuries, and property damage. |
Security Risk Assessment in Oklahoma City (FAA)
The Volpe Center's Safety and Security Systems Division is part of a special FAA Risk Assessment Team in Oklahoma City, OK. The team was called to Oklahoma City following the federal building bombing. The team is assessing security at over 60 FAA buildings at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. The assessment includes both facility and information systems security. Ms. Patricia Hammar is leading the team on automated information systems security. Ms. Hammar is also assimilating the results of all teams into the overall assessment report. This is a complex task because the security of dozens of computer systems must be correlated with the security of each of the 60 buildings. The Volpe Center is able to support all aspects of this assessment because of its familiarity and past experience establishing guidelines for computer systems and facility security. This experience, in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, has spurred other facility security assessment requests as well. The Center has provided information on barriers and the effects of blasts on buildings to the FAA's Office of Civil Aviation Security, and the Department's Office of Security. The information provided included four studies done for the Department of State, including: a barrier selection guide and a blast simulation model. The latter was produced in collaboration with the Center's Vehicle Crashworthiness Division, and includes software and a users manual to aid in modeling the effects of blasts on buildings and occupants.
Track Systems Safety Research (FRA)
Dr. Oscar Orringer, of the Volpe Center's Structures and Dynamics Division, recently participated in a meeting of the Committee on Rail Test (CORT) in St. Louis, MO. CORT includes railroad rail- inspection managers and suppliers of rail testing services and equipment. Dr. Orringer presented two briefings on behalf of the FRA. The first covered the background of the 1992 Superior, WI rail failure derailment, the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board, and the FRA program on rail nondestructive inspection research, which is about to get underway. The second briefing focused on the Center analyses of the effectiveness of improved flaw detection equipment based on tests being conducted by the Union Pacific Railroad.
High Speed Guided Ground Transportation Safety (FRA)
The final draft of the report entitled "High Speed Passenger Trains in Freight Train Corridors: Operations and Safety Considerations" was delivered by the Volpe Center to FRA's Office of Research and Development on April 27, 1995. The report reviews key safety-related issues associated with passenger trains at higher speeds on corridors having significant commuter and intercity passenger traffic, as well as dense freight operations. The report is, in part, an update of an earlier (1975) Center report, entitled "Operation of High Speed Passenger Trains in Rail Freight Corridors."
Workshop on Highway Rail Grade Crossing Safety (FRA)
The Volpe Center is providing multidisciplinary technical support to FRA that includes the identification and prioritization of research needs to improve highway-rail grade crossing safety. To assist in this activity, the Center recently hosted and conducted a Highway-Railroad Grade Crossing Safety Research Needs Workshop at the Center's Cambridge, MA campus. The purpose of the workshop was to develop an intermodal consensus on grade crossing safety research issues. The workshop was promulgated by the Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Action Plan. The Plan is an intermodal document released by Secretary Pe&#ntilde;a that cites the objective of achieving at least a fifty percent reduction in accidents and fatalities at grade crossings over the next ten years. The workshop assembled 75 delegates involved with improving grade crossing safety. Delegates from the Department's surface modal administrations and OST joined National Traffic Safety Board staff, numerous state DOT personnel, law enforcement representatives, rail and transit industry officials, academia, manufacturers of grade crossing equipment, and consultants. Research needs were formulated in five topical areas: crossing improvement programs, data needs, enforcement, human factors, and public education. Of the 87 established research needs, the delegates identified 39 to be high priority for enhancement of grade crossing safety. The Center's next task is to integrate these workshop results into a comprehensive description of intermodal grade crossing safety research needs.
Rail Safety Research Presentation at American Railway Conference (FRA)
On May 21, 1995, Dr. Herbert Weinstock, of the Volpe Center's Structures and Dynamics Division, gave a presentation to the Colorado Springs, CO meeting of the American Railway Engineering Association Committee 5, Subcommittee 8. The presentation was on the Center's work on the design and maintenance of spirals and curves, based on vehicle-track interaction studies in support of FRA.
Transit System Safety Guidelines (FTA)
The Volpe Center-prepared report "Exploring How to Make System Safety Work in Transit," was released on May 9, 1995. This document, prepared by the Center's Safety and Security Systems Division for FTA, is based on a workshop held at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA) last fall. The workshop brought together representatives from FTA, the Volpe Center, NYMTA and its operating agencies, federal and state safety regulators, and industry safety experts. Results of the workshop, presented in the report, are a practical guide not only for New York, but for all transit agencies to promote safety.