Identification of Railroad Requirements for the Future Automated and Connected Vehicle (AV/CV) Environment

According to Federal Rail Administration (FRA) numbers, in 2015 there were approximately 129,582 public, at-grade highway-rail grade crossings in the United States (U.S.). Despite this large number of direct intersections between the public highway and largely private rail systems, little of the current Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Automated Vehicle/Connected Vehicle (AV/CV) research is focused on how to incorporate the railroad system and its operations/required safety information effectively into future roadway AV/CV system planning. This initial scanning project will examine how transportation agencies, contractors, and other highway system stakeholders designing future automated and connected systems can best consider freight and passenger railroad operational and infrastructure needs in the development of future AV/CV system architecture. The project will explore: (1) information/data requirements for roadway vehicles to operate effectively near rail crossings; (2) impediments to collecting and exchanging rail operations data between public agency and private rail operators; (3) potential AV/CV implementation approaches near rail system assets that could benefit both systems; and (4) critical, necessary additional research efforts in both the short- and long-term to address future joint railroad/highway AV/CV architecture challenges.

• Record URL:
  http://www.vtti.vt.edu/utc/safe-d/index.php/identification-of-railroad-requirements-for-the-future-automated-and-connected-vehicle-avcv-environment/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $77000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747115

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Safety through Disruption University Transportation Center

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
  Blacksburg, VA  United States  24060
• Project Managers:

  Harwood, Leslie

• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135
• Principal Investigators:

  Morgan, Curtis

• Start Date: 20170601
• Expected Completion Date: 20180531
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automated highways; Data collection; Freight trains; Grade crossing protection systems; Intelligent transportation systems; Intelligent vehicles; Railroad grade crossings; Railroad safety
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Federal Railroad Administration
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01636976
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Safety through Disruption University Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747115
• Files: UTC, RiP
• Created Date: May 30 2017 11:50PM