Development of the Next Generation of Intercity Corridor Bi-level Equipment with Crash Energy Management

摘要

An innovative rail car procurement specification was developed for bi-level equipment. This specification wasdeveloped to fulfill the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA). The PRIIA is aCongressional mandate to Amtrak, State Departments of Transportation, the Federal Railroad Administration, andpassenger rail car builders and suppliers to develop the next generation of passenger rail equipment for intercitycorridor service for speeds up to 125 mph. It is intended that technological innovations be utilized to incrementallyimprove safety and that components be standardized to the extent possible to leverage economies of scale to helprevitalize the domestic passenger equipment manufacturing base. This paper focuses on the technical discussionsheld by a cross-section of key industry stakeholders to develop specification language for crash energy managementfeatures as an overlay on a fully compliant bi-level car design. The purpose of the paper is to widely disseminate themethodology and process utilized and to provide background information on the values chosen for individual carcrush zone performance.