Safety of High Speed Guided Ground Transportation Systems: Work Breakdown Structure

Final report Jan. 1993 - Nov. 1993PDFTech ReportDOT/FRA/ORD-94/03High speed ground transportationMagnetic levitation vehiclesGuidewaysSafety factorsSystems analysisStructural analysisUnited States. Federal Railroad AdministrationBachman, JJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)Applied System Technologies, Inc.NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITYNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Human FactorsVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterThis report provides a systems approach to the assessment, evaluation and application of high-speed guided ground transportation (HSGGT) safety criteria andpresents one potential methodology by combining a work breakdown structure (WBS)approach with an interface evaluation methodology. By systems approach i\uc2\ua3 is meantthat safety considerations and criteria are tied to an HSGGT structural concept andare addressed from the highest level of a system hierarchy downward in a WBS. Safetycriteria can then be logically associated with each system structure. This is adeparture from the traditional approach of assessing safety issues individually and inisolation of other factors.The generic work breakdown structure (WBS) developed by The Defense SystemsManagement College and outlined in its publication, System Engineering ManagementGuide, was selected to structure thecomplex configurations of a generic maglev system and a generic high speed rail (HSR) system. Both WBS provide a system approach to the assessment of the need for and application of safety regulations in the field of high-speed guided ground transportation (HSGGT). A typical generic WBS is composed of segments, elements, subsystems, and components, but the maglev and HSR WBS presentedin this report are defined to the subsystem level only, allowing for further lowerlevel definitions at a later time.Each WBS is organized on the basis of providing mutually exclusive segments on a technological basis at least to the maximum extent that is reasonable. A methodology known as n-1 is used to describe a means to create diagrams that depict the interface between segments, elements, and subsystems. A total of 129 subsystems are identified for a generic maglev system and 118 are identified for a generic HSR system