Technical Criteria and Procedures for Evaluating U.S. Department of Transportation the Crashworthiness and Occupant Protection Federal Railroad Performance of Alternatively Designed Passenger Administration Rail Equipment for Use in Tier I Service Office of Railroad Policy and Development Office of Safety Washington, DC 20005 DRAFT DOT/FRA/ORD-11/22 Final Report October 2011 Notice This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Government, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government. The United States Government assumes no liability for the content or use of the material contained in this document. Notice The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the objective of this report. REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0702-0288), Washington, D.C. 20503 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED October 2011 Technical Report 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Technical Criteria and Procedures for Evaluating the Crashworthiness and Occupant Protection Performance of Alternatively Designed Passenger Rail Equipment for Use in Tier I Service 6. AUTHOR(S) Compiled by Michael Carolan, Karina Jacobsen, Patricia Llana, Kristine Severson, Benjamin Perlman, and David Tyrell 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBERS U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center 55 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02142-1093 U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration Office of Railroad Policy and Development Office of Safety 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) REPORT NUMBER U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration Office of Railroad Policy and Development DOT/FRA/ORD-11/22 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Program Manager: Melissa Shurland 12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE This document is available to the public on the FRA Web site at http://www.fra.dot.gov. 13. ABSTRACT Criteria and procedures have been developed for assessing crashworthiness and occupant protection performance of alternatively designed trainsets to be used in Tier I (not exceeding 125 mph) passenger service. These criteria and procedures take advantage of the latest technology in rail equipment crashworthiness and include aspects that are fundamentally different from current regulations, such as the scenario-based train-level requirements, which have no counterpart in FRA‘s current Tier I regulations. Numerical values of the pass/fail criteria have been selected to provide an equivalent level of crashworthiness as the current Tier I regulations. For example, while the occupied volume integrity requirements have been relaxed from the current regulations, the criteria for preservation of the occupied volume for a collision with a locomotive-led train have been added to compensate. In other cases, such as roof integrity, the existing regulations can be applied to alternative equipment. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES RSAC, crashworthiness, waiver application, Tier I, standards, passenger equipment 177 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. LIMITATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified Unlimited NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rec. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI/NISO Std. 239.18 298-102 i METRIC/ENGLISH CONVERSION FACTORS ENGLISH TO METRIC METRIC TO ENGLISH LENGTH (APPROXIMATE) LENGTH (APPROXIMATE) 1 inch (in) = 2.5 centimeters (cm) 1 millimeter (mm) = 0.04 inch (in) 1 foot (ft) = 30 centimeters (cm) 1 centimeter (cm) = 0.4 inch (in) 1 yard (yd) = 0.9 meter (m) 1 meter (m) = 3.3 feet (ft) 1 mile (mi) = 1.6 kilometers (km) 1 meter (m) = 1.1 yards (yd) 1 kilometer (km) = 0.6 mile (mi) AREA (APPROXIMATE) AREA (APPROXIMATE) 1 square inch (sq in, in2) = 6.5 square centimeters (cm2) 1 square centimeter (cm2) = 0.16 square inch (sq in, in2) 1 square foot (sq ft, ft2) = 0.09 square meter (m2) 1 square meter (m2) = 1.2 square yards (sq yd, yd2) 1 square yard (sq yd, yd2) = 0.8 square meter (m2) 1 square kilometer (km2) = 0.4 square mile (sq mi, mi2) 1 square mile (sq mi, mi2) = 2.6 square kilometers (km2) 10,000 square meters (m2) = 1 hectare (ha) = 2.5 acres 1 acre = 0.4 hectare (he) = 4,000 square meters (m2) MASS - WEIGHT (APPROXIMATE) MASS - WEIGHT (APPROXIMATE) 1 ounce (oz) = 28 grams (gm) 1 gram (gm) = 0.036 ounce (oz) 1 pound (lb) = 0.45 kilogram (kg) 1 kilogram (kg) = 2.2 pounds (lb) 1 short ton = 2,000 pounds = 0.9 tonne (t) 1 tonne (t) = 1,000 kilograms (kg) (lb) = 1.1 short tons VOLUME (APPROXIMATE) VOLUME (APPROXIMATE) 1 teaspoon (tsp) = 5 milliliters (ml) 1 milliliter (ml) = 0.03 fluid ounce (fl oz) 1 tablespoon (tbsp) = 15 milliliters (ml) 1 liter (l) = 2.1 pints (pt) 1 fluid ounce (fl oz) = 30 milliliters (ml) 1 liter (l) = 1.06 quarts (qt) 1 cup (c) = 0.24 liter (l) 1 liter (l) = 0.26 gallon (gal) 1 pint (pt) = 0.47 liter (l) 1 quart (qt) = 0.96 liter (l) 1 gallon (gal) = 3.8 liters (l) 1 cubic foot (cu ft, ft3) = 0.03 cubic meter (m3) 1 cubic meter (m3) = 36 cubic feet (cu ft, ft3) 1 cubic yard (cu yd, yd3) = 0.76 cubic meter (m3) 1 cubic meter (m3) = 1.3 cubic yards (cu yd, yd3) TEMPERATURE (EXACT) TEMPERATURE (EXACT) [(x-32)(5/9)] F = y C [(9/5) y + 32] C = x F QUICK INCH - CENTIMETER LENGTH CONVERSION 0 1 2 3 4 5 Inches Centimeters 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 QUICK FAHRENHEIT - CELSIUS TEMPERATURE CONVERSION °F -40° -22° -4° 14° 32° 50° 68° 86° 104° 122° 140° 158° 176° 194° 212° °C -40° -30° -20° -10° 0° 10° 20° 30° 40° 50° 60° 70° 80° 90° 100° For more exact and or other conversion factors, see NIST Miscellaneous Publication 286, Units of Weights and Measures. Price $2.50 SD Catalog No. C13 10286 Updated 6/17/98 ii Preface Engineering Task Force Organization The Engineering Task Force (ETF) reports to the Passenger Safety Working Group of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC). Mission The mission of the task force was to produce a set of technical criteria and procedures for evaluating passenger rail trainsets built to alternative designs. The technical evaluation criteria and procedures would provide a means of establishing whether equipment of an alternative design would result in at least equivalent performance to that of equipment designed in accordance with the structural standards in the Passenger Equipment Safety Standards (49 CFR Part 238). The criteria and procedures described in this document are specifically intended to apply to trainsets operated at speeds up to 125 mph that may need a waiver from (or, as appropriate under § 238.201(b), approval of alternative compliance with) one or more of the Passenger Equipment Safety Standards. The initial focus of this effort was on Tier I crashworthiness and occupant protection standards. This report is the product of this effort. The criteria and procedures contained within this report provide a technical framework for presenting evidence to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in support of a request for waiver of the Tier I crashworthiness and occupant protection standards, including the compressive (buff) strength requirements set forth in 49 CFR § 238.203. See, Rules of Practice (49 CFR Part 211) for rules on waiver petitions. In addition, these guidelines form a technical basis for making determinations concerning alternative compliance with the Tier I crashworthiness and occupant protection standards, as set forth in §238.201(b). The criteria and procedures contained in this report may be incorporated into the Passenger Equipment Safety Standards at a later date, after notice and opportunity for public comment. Approach In evaluating requests for waivers and other approvals for the use of passenger equipment not compliant with FRA‘s structural standards, FRA, with support from the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, has been reviewing and comparing the performance of domestic, conventional equipment with equipment designed to international standards. Based in part on knowledge gained from these reviews and similar evaluations conducted for more than a decade since Part 238 was promulgated, FRA presented