The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has proposed updates for the passenger train safety standards used in the United States due to the current progress on adding high-speed trains to the country’s rail system.
The proposed updates would establish a Tier III category of passenger equipment for trains traveling up to 220 mph, offering an alternative method for evaluating crashworthiness, which evaluates how well passengers and crews are protected in an accident. In addition to measuring a train’s crashworthiness based on meeting current prescriptive strength standards, the changes would allow a train’s crashworthiness to be evaluated based on it meeting an equivalent level of safety achieved through crash energy management technology or other engineering methods.
“As several regions of the United States build faster passenger rail service, the trains on those tracks must keep passengers safe,” remarked U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “To do that, we want to allow manufacturers to innovate and achieve all-new levels of safety. These proposed changes put us on track to do just that.”
Tier III trains will be required to have exclusive track to operate at speeds above 125 mph. However, the new standards will also allow Tier III trains to safely share track with current Tier I and Tier II commuter, intercity, and Acela trains. Compatibility between equipment types allows trains to share existing corridors to reach downtown stations.
The public, railroad industry, railroad labor, manufacturers and other stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide feedback and comment on the proposed rule during the next 60 days.
“We look forward to hearing from everyone on how this proposal can help our country build a stronger passenger rail network – one that is not only faster but allows for new technologies to make passenger trains even safer,” said FRA Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg.