U.S. Department John A Volpe Kendall Square of Transportat~on Nalional Transportat~on Cambridge Massachusetts 021 42 Systems Center Research and Special Programs Administration March 1992 Safety of High Speed Magnetic Levitation Transportation Systems: German High-Speed Train Safety Requirements - Potential for Application in the United States Interim Report February 1992 DOT/FRA/ORD-92/02 ERATTA Page 7-14 Revise the first two complete paragraphs as follows: The draft MBO requires that the system operator establish measures that will minimize the potential for accidents, minimize the consequences of accidents that do occur, support individual rescue, and facilitate the rescue of others. The operator is also required to summarize these measures (in terms of infrastructure, vehicles, service, and rescue), particularly for tunnels, and to present them to the "competent authorityI1 (undefined) for approval. It also states that the system operator is obligated to manage the maglev operations safely and to maintain the facilities, vehicles, and accessories in I1a good, operationally safe condition." The EBO requires that new vehicles not be placed into service for the first time until they have been demonstrably tested. Page 9-7 The last sentence of the first paragraph should read as follows: In addition, the natural environment is a source of background levels of both steady (dc) and variable (ac) electrical and magnetic fields, and of electromagnetic radiation [46, 47, and 481. Page 9-15 Third sentence of second complete paragraph should read as follows: Magnetic fields are higher in the train operator cabin (about double) than in the passenger area. Technical Report Documentation Page 1 Report No 2. Government Accessron No 3 Recrprent's Catalog No DOTIFRAfORD-92/02 DOT/VNTSC/FRA/92-3 4 Title and Subtitle 5 Report Date Safety of High Speed Magnetic Levitation Transportation February 1992 Systems: German High Speed Maglev Train Safety Requirements - Potential for Application in the United States DTS-701/73/75/76/38/24 7 Author(s) 8 Performrng Organrzatron Report No R.M. Dorer, S.H. Markos, R.A. Wlodyka, H.S. Lee, M. Coltman, DOT-VNTSC-FRA-92-3 W.T. Hathaway, A.E. Barrington, and A. Brecher 9. Performrng Organrzatron Name and Address 10 Work Unrt No (TRAS) U.S. Department of Transportation RR293/R20 15 Research and Special Programs Administration John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center 11 Contract or Grant No. Cambridge, MA 02142-1093 Sponsorrng Agency Name and Address 1 12 13 Type of Report and Perrod Covered U.S. Department of Transportation Interim Report Federal Railroad Administration January 1991 -January 1992 Ofice of Research and Development 14 Sponsorrng Agency Code Washington, DC 20593 RDV-30 15. Supplementary Notes I 16. Abstract The safety of various magnetically levitated (maglev) trains under development for possible implementation in the United States is of direct concern to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). This report is the second in a series of reports addressing the safety of high-speed maglev trains and presents the results of the review to determine the suitability of German safety requirements for application to maglev systems as proposed for U.S. operations. The intent of the review was to compare the German and U.S. safety requirements in order to assist the FRA in determining what regulations and guidelines may be necessary to ensure a high level of safety for U.S. passenger service. The review focuses on the High-Speed Maglev Trains Safety Requirements, Regelwerk Magnetschnellbahnen--SicherheitstechnischeAnforderungen (RW MSB), which was developed by a German working group of representatives of the German Federal Railways (DB),the Testing and Planning company for Maglev Systems, (MVP), the Institute for Railway Technology (IFB),and safety experts of TUV Rheinland and T~VHanover, headed by T~VRheinland, and sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology. The German safety requirements were reviewed in terms of safety related functional areas of the following areas of the following seven maglev system elements: vehicles; guideway; passenger stations; signal. control, and communications (SCC); plans and procedures; personnel; and operating environment. Potential safety concerns for each of the maglev system functional areas were identified. The German safety requirements and the applicable U.S. safety requirements are described and then compared to determine their applicability to proposed U.S. maglev system operations. Recommendations are also included for FRA consideration. In general, the German effort appears to ensure the same high level of safety for maglev trains that is expected in the United States for similar ground transportation technologies. The challenge lies in transferring the experience ofGermany to the U.S. regulatory environment. 17. Key Words 18 Distrbutron Statement maglev, magnetic levitation, transportation, safety, DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLETO THE PUBLIC THROUGH Federal Railroad Administration, high speed ground THE VATIONALTECH NICAL INFORMATIONSERVICE transportation, maglev safety regulations, Transrapid SPRINGFIE-D,VA 22161 19 Securlty Classrf~catron(of thrs report) 20 Securlty Ciassrf~cat~on(of th~spage) 21 Yo of Pages 22 Prrce I UNCLASSIFIED 1 L-SCLASSIFIEII 1 256 Form DOT F1700.7 (8-72) Reprr~d~rt~oi.;con-;? etez :a;e .a,r- J, rel PREFACE The use of magnetically levitated (maglev) vehicles for high-speed guided ground transportation could easily become a reality in this decade. The first such system will likely be the Florida Maglev Demonstration Project. A result of this development is that a need exists for the assessment of the safety implications of this new form of guided ground transportation. This is the responsibility of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) , which is charged with ensuring the safety of maglev systems in the United States under the provisions of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 1988. The second in a series of reports addressing high speed maglev transportation safety, this report, German High-~peedMaglev Train Safetv Requirements--Potential for Application in the United States, examines the suitability for applying the German requirements to the U.S. environment. This FRA/VNTSC report is based upon a review of the German safety requirements document titled, German Hiqh-Speed Maqlev Train Safety Requirements [Reqelwerk Maqnetschnellbahnen--Sicherheitstechnische Anforderunsen]. This document, known by its abbreviation of RW MSB, was developed by a working group representatives of the German Federal Railways (DB), the Testing and Planning Company for Maglev Systems (MVP), industry, the Institute for Railway Technology (IFB), and safety experts of TW Rheinland and TW Hanover, headed by TW Rheinland, and sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology. The working group established the requirements to be fulfilled for an application of the Transrapid technology in revenue service, based on the technology as it currently exists at the Experimental Test facility (TVE), Emsland, Germany. Examination of these German safety requirements suggests a more detailed specification in certain maglev system functional areas may be required in order to provide an adequate level of safety in the U.S. environment. iii In this connection, the report on the results of the German Federal Railways (DB) assessment of Transrapid's Readiness for Application, with a major objective being safety analysis, was recently released. It is anticipated that the opportunity to review this new report and its safety-related supporting material, from the perspective of development of U.S. standards, will help address issues that were outside of the scope of the RW MSB. The expected complementary nature of the "Readiness for ApplicationI1 process combined with the working-group-established RW MSB will be addressed in a future report. Transrapid Safety Certification testing at TVE, Emsland will also be the subject of a future report. The FRA plans, in the initial development of U. S. safety rulemaking for maglev systems and, in particular, for the Florida Maglev Demonstration Project, to continue to draw upon the extensive body of knowledge and experience gained by the German parties involved in developing, certifying, testing, and supervising the Transrapid technology. Frequently, issues raised in the FRA project accompanying safety assessments are already being addressed and resolution of these issues has been met by the time the issues are noted in one of the FRA/VNTSC reports. This occurrence reflects well on the effectiveness of the proactive nature of the project accompanying safety assessment process where working hand-in-hand in a public/private partnership with industry achieves the safest possible guided ground transportation environment. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This report was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Office of Research and Development. The authors wish to thank Arne J. Bang, of that Office, for his direction and helpful guidance during the preparation of this document. In addition, Philip Olekszyk, Deputy Associate Administrator and William OfSullivan, both of the FRA Off ice of Safety, and Manual Galdo, FRA Off ice of Research and Development, provided important input and review. The report was prepared by the staff of the U.S. DOT/Research and Special Programs Administration/Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (RSPA/VNTSC) under the direction of