Future from Page 4
tract with the Federal Railroad Administration and is a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads ; contracts with railroad and railroad-related companies .
“ The rail industry wants to be known as safe , reliable and efficient ,” said President Lisa Stabler , a former BNSF Railway Executive . “ Those are the things that our strategic research is really focused on – improving safety for the railroad industry , making certain we are a reliable industry and that our products last , delivering on time every time , and being the most costefficient solution for shipping from point A to point B .”
Meaningful work
TTCI ’ s work impacts how well U . S . railroads move about their systems safely . In 2012 , the railroad industry recorded the safest year recorded , with only 2.30 train accidents per million train miles , an 80 percent improvement from 1980 . Train accidents have dropped 51 percent since 1990 and 44 percent since 2000 .
Shortline railroads benefit both directly and indirectly from developments in the areas of equipment improvements ; wayside detectors ; and the design and life-cycle performance of bridges , track components and track maintenance , said Stabler .
TTCI , framed by snowcapped mountains , operates with a vast array of specialized laboratories and track . The company enables isolated testing for all categories of freight and passenger rolling stock , vehicle and track components , and safety devices . Five test tracks are part of 48 miles of rail sprawling across the site , which has been built and maintained just like the track structures at shortlines and Class Is .
Specialized tracks are used to evaluate vehicle stability , safety , endurance and reliability for diesel and electrified power , or to test railcar performance on tight curves . The precision test track allows rolling stock to be tested on various track conditions that represent the extremes sometimes found in revenue service .
“ We can modify the track to be able to show various extreme conditions ,”
Stabler said . “ That ’ s the whole purpose of that track – it will not be the best track in the world , but represent the limits of what you can find . We can change the conditions as needed for testing .”
TTCI regularly monitors a pair of retired bridges that show the signs of more than 160 years of combined service , to study how the infrastructure lifecan be extended . The stressed bridges are located on High Tonnage Loop , home to TTCI ’ s Facility for Accelerated Service Testings ( FAST ). Using a 17,000-ton train with each car loaded to 315,000 pounds , FAST generates up to 25 million gross tons per month on the High Tonnage Loop .
Safety and reliability
Stabler says that extending the life of bridges or any other piece of track infrastructure could save a shortline or Class I millions in unnecessary replacement costs .
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“ We can look at how existing cracks develop , how they change over time , and remediate them using new methods to determine how the repair will affect bridge life ,” she said . “ Can we make a repair that allows us to safely extend the life of the bridge ? We can monitor that out here in real time .”
TTCI played a role in the new M- 976 truck design , which has proven to be a friend of car-maintenance shops and budgets . This freight car truck was designed to provide better steering through curves , which proved true during testing . A review by TTCIalso revealed that the improved steering reduced the rate of high-impact wheel generation by a factor of four . Freight car owners with M-976 trucks are benefitting because wheel life is extended , necessitating fewer replacements .
Study results demonstrate why railroads can benefit from TTCI , said Stabler , whether it is putting wheels , rail or an old bridge under the microscope .
“ If you look at our role , it ’ s safety , reliability and efficiency ,” she said . “ We want to make sure we can not only extend the life of rolling stock and track infrastructure , but safely is the top priority . If we can avoid millions of dollars in repairs to replace a bridge because we have a bridge that is still safe and reliable , then that ’ s to the benefit of the industry and to the overall North American economy .”