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Rail Research at TRB
 The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. This page highlights recently released TRB reports, meeting announcements, requests for proposals, and other announcements related to railroads. In addition, it includes links to selected railroad research-related activities taking place at the federal and state levels, and within the academic and international transportation communities. Finally, this page also highlights and provides links to TRB railroads-related programs and activities, which are the source of most of TRB’s railroad-related research products. |
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What's New
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TRB Railroad-Related Programs and Activities
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 TR News September-October 2013: Environmental Sustainability in TransportationFebruary 23, 2014 The full PDF version of the September-October 2013 issue of TR News is now available. TRB policy is to release the full PDF version of a TR News four months after its release in print format. This issue of the TR News focuses on environmental sustainability in transportation and how it can help improve the quality of life for individuals and communities. Articles highlight practice-ready resear... |
 TR News November-December 2013: Designed for Implementation and Impact: SHRP 2 Products and ProceduresFebruary 4, 2014 This issue of the TR News focuses on the impacts and implementation of products, tools, and research results and findings of the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) are presented in the November–December issue of TR News. Articles spotlight each SHRP 2 focus area—renewal, capacity, reliability, and safety—from the perspectives of the research contractors and the users of the rese... |
 Critical Issues in Transportation: 2013February 1, 2014 TRB’s Executive Committee periodically identifies a set of critical issues in transportation to focus attention on their likely impact on the nation’s economy and quality of life. The discussion of the critical issues identified in this document is intended to facilitate debate and to encourage research leading to their resolution. Previous editions of Critical Issues in Transportation have hig... |
 Railroads 2013January 10, 2014 TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2374 consists of 22 papers that explore high-speed rail network design and station location; the competitiveness of high-speed rail; the economic impacts of Amtrak intercity service; an evaluation of high-speed rail corridors; the impacts of short-term land use by high-speed rail on large metropolises; and h... |
 TR News May-June 2013: Railroads and Research: Sharing Track December 18, 2013 This issue of the TR News highlights the benefits from research investments that anticipate and help meet the industry's needs. Research and demonstration projects on crash energy management; the design of tank cars to reduce the risk of transporting hazardous materials by rail; track support to improve track safety, efficiency, and the competitiveness of the industry; improvements in safety cu... |
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Technical Activities Standing Committees
TRB's Technical Activities Division provides a forum for transportation professionals in all modes and functions to identify research needs and to share information on research and issues of interest. The Division's staff of specialists in each mode and discipline work with a network of volunteers to carry out activities on behalf of TRB sponsors and the transportation community, including the TRB Annual Meeting, conferences and workshops, publications, visits to each state, and responses to inquiries. This network includes members and friends of over 200 standing committees, supplemented by designated TRB representatives in each state, over 150 universities, and 35 transit agencies. |
Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2)
Congress established the SHRP 2 in 2006 to investigate the underlying causes of highway crashes and congestion in a short-term program of focused research. To carry out that investigation, SHRP 2 targets goals in four interrelated focus areas--Safety, Renewal, Reliability, and Capacity.
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Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program
TRB's Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program is designed to provide an opportunity to investigate new and unproven concepts or to evaluate novel applications of technologies that have been tried, tested or used for safety systems practice.
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Research in Progress in this Subject Area
TRB's Research in Progress (RiP) Database now contains more than 11,900 current or recently completed transportation research projects. Most of the RiP records are projects funded by federal and state departments of transportation. University transportation research is also included. The RiP Database also serves as a clearinghouse of University Transportation Centers ongoing research.
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Research Needs in this Subject Area
An important function of TRB is to stimulate research that addresses concerns, issues, or problems facing the transportation community. In support of this function, TRB Technical Activities standing committees identify, develop, and disseminate research need statements (RNS) for use by practitioners, researchers, and others.
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Research Completed in this Subject Area
TRB's TRID is integrated database that combines the records from TRB's Transportation Research Information Services ( TRIS) Database and the OECD's Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation ( ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to over 900,000 records of transportation research worldwide. |
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