February 2015: The US DOT Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently announced that RailTEC has been awarded a major, two-year research project investigating improvements in rail transit infrastructure quality, reliability and safety. RailTEC faculty and students will use innovative technologies and methods to characterize the desired performance and resiliency requirements for concrete crossties and fastening systems, quantify their behavior under load, and develop resilient infrastructure component design solutions for concrete crossties and fastening systems for light rail, eavy rail, and commuter rail operators. This project will include development of prototype crossties and fastening systems with the overall objective of keeping public transportation safe and in a state of good repair, especially during natural disasters and other externally caused extreme events.
