Passenger Protection in Rail Transit Vehicles

Statistically, light rail systems have higher injury rates on a per passenger-mile basis than heavy rail and commuter rail, because light rail transit systems in most cities operate on city streets with at-grade crossings. Occupants can be injured or killed as a result of two main mechanisms that arise from the sudden acceleration or deceleration of a vehicle, or because of a mechanical damage to the vehicle structure. These can arise from: (1) Primary collision of the vehicle against another vehicle or obstacle, and (2) Secondary impacts between the occupant and the interior of the vehicle at some time following the initiation of the primary collision. This research is expected to identify the injury mechanisms to LRV passengers and to propose future areas of research that will lay the foundations necessary to generate transit rail vehicle interior design guidelines that will enhance the level of safety to passengers during collisions. The objective of this rsearch project is to identify the injury mechanisms to Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) passengers and generate transit rail vehicle interior design guidelines that will enhance the level of safety to passengers during collisions.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $175000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  KS-26-7008

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Chen, Roy

• Performing Organizations:

  Wichita State University

  1845 Fairmount
  Wichita, KS  United States  67260
• Principal Investigators:

  Olivares, Gerardo

• Start Date: 20090300
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 30100500
• Source Data: RiP Project 20897

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: At grade intersections; Crashes; Light rail transit; Light rail vehicles; Passenger miles; Railroad crashes; Railroad transportation; Research projects
• Uncontrolled Terms: Passenger safety
• Subject Areas: Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01462214
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
• Contract Numbers: KS-26-7008
• Files: RIP, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 2:00PM