Browsing by Subject "Railroad safety"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Improving Railroad Grade Crossing Safety: Accurate Prediction of Train Arrival Times for Emergency Response Management and Driver Decision Support
    (Center for Transportation Studies, 2019-02) Work, Daniel B; Barbour, William; Wang, Ren
    Incidents at highway-rail grade crossings, locations where railroad tracks intersect surface streets at grade, are a primary driver of safety in rail transportation in the United States. Addressing safety at these locations through technology is a focus of the Federal Railroad Administration and United States Department of Transportation. Effective management of emergency response resources on the road network requires knowledge of when trains will arrive at grade crossings and temporarily disconnect emergency vehicles from parts of the community they serve. Generating estimated times of arrival (ETAs) for trains at grade crossings on a long time horizon can be used to proactively address surface transportation safety and emergency response management. This project investigates train delays to accurately estimate train arrival times at grade crossings to support in-vehicle driver alerts. The prediction of arrival times uses train-positioning information, properties of the train, properties of the network, and properties of potentially conflicting traffic on the network as input. A historical algorithm is developed to accurately model delays using train- positioning information and an online algorithm integrates real-time train position information into the forecasts. Amtrak data and over two years of CSX freight rail data are used to test and validate the proposed algorithms. Results on ETA prediction are presented for various sets of input features, machine learning algorithms, and prediction locations. ETAs at control points located close to grade crossings are dramatically improved over baseline algorithms, particularly for predictions made multiple hours from a crossing that are useful for proactive safety measures.
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    Positioning, Planning and Operation of Emergency Response Resources and Coordination between Jurisdictions
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2018-02) Xie, Siyang; An, Kun; Ouyang, Yanfeng
    Railroad related rail incidents, particularly those involving hazardous material (hazmat), cause severe consequences and pose significant threats to safety, public health and the environment. Rail safety is a huge issue in Midwestern states such as Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This project aims at strategically positioning and allocating emergency responders and resources in anticipation of potential accidents in a region that may be impacted by rail incidents. Mathematical models and solution techniques are developed to enable systematic analysis of the emergency response system associated with railroad incidents; e.g., to strategically position and allocate emergency responders and resources in anticipation of potential accidents along spatially distributed railroad networks. We consider the added complexity due to vulnerability of the emergency response system itself, such as the risk of disruptions to the transportation network for first-responders (e.g., blockage of railroad crossings). The outcomes from these tasks will provide fundamental understanding, operational guidelines, and practical tools to policy makers (e.g., federal and state agencies) to induce socio-economically favorable system that support safe and efficient railroad industry operations.