Federal Railroad Administration
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U.S. DOT’s SBIR 17.1 Solicitation Is Now Open
Small businesses are invited to submit research proposals for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Small Business Innovation Research program fiscal year 2017 solicitation. The solicitation will be open through December 21, 2016.
Protecting Endangered Bats, Streamlining Highway Projects
As pollinators and insect consumers, bats generate $3 billion each year in economic value. However, the population of a key species has declined by nearly half since 2005—due, in large part, to human disturbance. A new federal strategy will help facilitate conservation of these bats while...Volpe’s Innovations from the 2016 Joint Rail Conference
From eliminating broken rails and combating punctured tank cars, to making stronger interfaces between rail ties and ballast, Volpe engineers support the Federal Railroad Administration in making passenger and freight rail travel safer.Pilot Program Yields Significant Rail Safety Improvements, Evaluation Shows
The March 2016 edition of Safety Science highlights the results of Volpe’s independent evaluation of a two-year pilot initiative sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Shaping Rail’s Future in the Northeast
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is one of the most heavily traveled rail corridors in the world. But the NEC operates on outdated infrastructure with capacity constraints. To address this, the Federal Railroad Administration has released the NEC FUTURE Tier 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement,...Rail Innovations Throttle Up at Volpe
From energy efficiency to fuel tank standards, Volpe’s range of rail expertise was on display at the 2015 Joint Rail Conference. Read on for brief summaries of seven Volpe papers presented during the conference, which examined A Century of Innovation: Heavy Haul to High-Speed Rail.
New Simulator Enables Testing of Dangerous Driving Scenarios with No Harm to Drivers
Volpe recently acquired a new research simulator to understand driver behavior. Owned by the Federal Railroad Administration, the driving simulator helps researchers examine user reactions to a myriad of scenarios, providing important safety data that shapes new technologies and...
Advancing the Northeast Corridor’s Future
Volpe supports the Federal Railroad Administration’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) multi-state planning and environmental efforts, known as NEC FUTURE.
Clickety-Clack: A Study on Joint Bar Integrity
To help prevent the conditions that can lead to derailments, Volpe worked with a team to survey joint bars across the country’s rail system to understand why, and under what conditions, joint bars are at risk for failure.