Potential scenarios of concern for high speed rail operations

PDFProceedingsJRC2011-56074High speed railRailroad safetyPreventionPositive train controlRailroad grade crossingsUnited States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and DevelopmentCarolan, Michael E.Sullivan, LauraJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-High Speed Ground TransportationNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-RAIL TRANSPORTATIONNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail Planning and PolicyNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail SafetyVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterCurrently, multiple operating authorities are proposing theintroduction of high-speed rail service in the United States.While high-speed rail service shares a number of basicprinciples with conventional-speed rail service, the operationalrequirements on a high-speed rail system are typically moredemanding than those for conventional-speed operations. Theoperating environment will require specialized maintenanceand inspection procedures, enhanced protection or gradeseparationof highway-rail crossings, effective separation ofother rail traffic, and detection of potential hazards along thetrack to help ensure the safety of the system. With the requiredimplementation of positive train control (PTC) by passengercarryingrail operators, the frequency and/or severity of severaltypes of railroad accidents can be decreased. While all of thesemeasures will contribute to the overall system safety, incidentsthat pose a threat to passenger and crew safety may still occurthat cannot be prevented through the design of the operatingenvironment alone. It is important to consider these types ofincidents when selecting the rail vehicles for use in a particularoperation, and include appropriate crashworthiness andoccupant protection measures.This paper presents a series of example scenarios of some ofthe potential hazards that may affect the safe operation of highspeedpassenger trains in the United States. These situationsare drawn from actual accidents that have occurred in the U.S.and abroad. The scenarios provide a starting point fordiscussing system safety features, which includes vehiclecrashworthiness and occupant protection features.As an operating environment may be designed to limit thelikelihood of certain types of incidents from occurring, threedifferent hypothetical high-speed operating environments arediscussed in this paper. While the number of potentialscenarios varies with each operating environment, in allenvironments it is important to consider the need for a train\ue2\u20ac\u2122scrashworthiness features to mitigate the consequences ofpotential incidents