Investigating technical challenges and research needs related to shared corridors for high speed passenger and railroad freight operations.

PDFTech ReportDOT/FRA/ORD-13/29Transportation corridorsHigh speed railFreight transportationStrategic planningLiterature reviewsUnited StatesUnited States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and DevelopmentSaat, M.R.Barkan, C.P.L.University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dept. of Civil and Environmental EngineeringNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-High Speed Ground TransportationNTL-FREIGHT-FREIGHTNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-PLANNING AND POLICYUS Transportation CollectionThe development of both incremental and dedicated high-speed rail lines in the United States poses a number of questions. Despite nearly 50 years of international experience in planning, designing, building and operating high-speed passenger infrastructure and rolling stock, there is a range of problems partially or completely unique to North America. Successful development of expanded higher speed, and new, very high-speed rail, will require careful analysis and, in many cases, research to develop satisfactory solutions. The questions involve a range of engineering, operational, economic, and institutional aspects. This report introduces various technical challenges related to shared high-speed passenger and freight rail corridors, describes an effort to prioritize the challenges, and presents an in-depth literature review of the high-priority challenges to identify existing research and future research needs