2010 Mid Year Meeting
Agenda
AP070(1) Self-Powered Rail Car Technologies Subcommittee
Saturday June 5, 2010 4:00-5:00 PM
Kensington Room | Fourth Floor
HYATT REGENCY
At APTA’s Rail Conference
1. Call to order.
2. Approval of Minutes from Meeting January 13, 2010.
3. Discussion of 2011 Research Agenda and Session Plans
Minutes of Committee Meeting
AP070(1) SELF POWERED RAIL CAR TECHNOLOGIES SUBCOMMITTEE
Committee Chair, David Nelson (Jacobs Engineering), called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM.
Members and friends of the subcommittee introduced themselves. A total of 21 people were in attendance. Please see the attached sign-in sheet.
See attached meeting agenda.
Committee Secretary Position
Chairman Nelson reported that the position of Committee Secretary remains and requested a volunteer to fill the role for today’s meeting. Thomas Cornillie agreed to take notes and prepare minutes for this meeting. Anyone interested in filling the position should speak to the Chair.
Website
Chairman Nelson noted that the subcommittee has a website: http://trbsprc.blogspot.com where meeting notes, agenda, and other information are available.
Committee Name
Sub-committee members in attendance voted unanimously to re-affirm the sub-committee’s name: “Self-Powered Rail Car Technologies Subcommittee”
Presentations
Two presentations were made to the committee:
Update on Research to Support the Rail Safety Advisory Committee Task Force
Mr. Tyrell gave a presentation about the US DOT Volpe Center’s efforts to develop criteria and procedures for evaluating rail vehicle crashworthiness. The results were published in the Federal Register on January 8, 2010 and are viewable at the following address: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-01-08/html/E9-31411.htm
The ensuing discussion covered collision speeds, collision survivability and car deformity, and the relationship between crash energy management and buff-strength.
Introduction to US Rail
Mr. Pratt, the President and CEO of US Railcar gave a presentation about the acquisition of the assets of the bankrupt Colorado Railcar corporation by the Value Recovery Group of
The presentation included an overview of the accomplishments of Colorado Railcar in developing its DMU design and their plans to adapt the design based on revenue service experience.
Recent Industry and Service Developments
The committee briefly discussed the following recent developments:
Mid-Year Meeting
The mid-year meeting tentatively set for mid-June in
Proposed Research and Session Topics For 2010 Annual Conference
1. Strategies for “bridging the gap” to permit true level boarding.
2. Potential to use PTC to facilitate interoperability of equipment of varying structural standards
3. Documentation of best practices developed in existing services
The meeting was adjourned at 11:58 AM.
Distribution: Subcommittee members
Section Chair
Group Council Chair
TRB Staff Representative
SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2009 from 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Committee Chair, David Wilcock (VHB), called the meeting to order at 3:15 PM. Mr. Wilcock welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Members and friends of the committee introduced themselves. A total of 17 people were in attendance. See attached attendance sheet.
See the attached meeting agenda.
Chairman Wilcock reported that Ray Tomczak will no longer be able to serve as Committee Secretary and requested a volunteer to fill the role for today’s meeting. David Nelson agreed to take notes and prepare minutes for this meeting. Anyone interested in filling the position should speak to the Chair.
Chairman Wilcock thanked APTA and Art Guzzetti for providing the space for today’s meeting.
Peter Shaw provided a brief report from TRB. All systems are go for the 2010 Annual Meeting in
Membership Rotation
Chairman Wilcock noted that 2009 is a membership rotation year for the committee. Every three years, TRB requires that one-third of the committee membership turnover. The maximum number of consecutive years that someone can be a member of the committee is nine. In April 2009, seven members rotated off and six new members joined the committee to satisfy TRB's requirements. The Chair welcomed the new members and expressed appreciation to members who rotated off the committee.
Review of Annual Meeting Notes (01/12/2009)
The minutes of the annual year meeting that was held on June 12, 2009 in
Passenger Rail Caucus
There will be Passenger Rail Caucus this year (Thursday November 12 – Saturday November 14) in Delaware Valley Region of the great mid-Atlantic states of
Public Transit (AP) Group Update
Chairman Wilcock provided an update from the TRB Public Transit (AP) Group. Starting this year an award in memory of Nobel Prize winning transport economist Bill Vickery will be awarded to the best paper presented in the public transit group.
There was a review and brief discussion of cross cutting issues in public transportation that of particular research interest to the overall Public Transit Group:
Rail (AP) Group Update
Chairman Wilcock also reported from the May meeting of the TRB Rail (AR) Group. That group’s overwhelming research focus this year is targeted on the 2008 Rail Safety Act and Positive Train Control (PTC). Positive train control concerns include cost, interoperability and schedule for implementation. The criteria that trigger a PTC requirement for any route segment include:
1. Presence of passenger service
2. Carriage of hazardous materials
3. Overall traffic level exceeding 5 million gross ton miles per mile.
Under these criteria, most of the nation’s Class I route miles are candidates for installation before the end of 2015.
Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Problem Statements
Chairman Wilcock led a discussion of TCRP Research Problem Statements. He discussed the need for research concerning commuter rail contracting practices for operations and maintenance. A proposed research problem statement, Best Practices in Contracting Commuter Rail Services, that had been prepared by Jim Stoetzel and the Chairman on the topic was reviewed. It had been circulated to several committee members in advance of the meeting for review and comment. The proposed statement was approved by the committee for submission to the TCRP 2010 problem statement process.
A second statement has been under development regarding the establishment of best practices for new start commuter rail services. It is hoped that this statement will be ready for the 2011 TCRP process.
Paul O’Brien suggested that the committee establish an on-going initiative to prepare and submit a TCRP problem statement on an annual basis. The suggestion met with generally favorable response from the group in attendance.
Call For Papers/Annual Meeting Session Planning
With respect to Calls for Papers, two topics have been submitted to TRB for distribution on behalf of the committee:
1. Commuter Rail to Regional Rail
2. Best Practices for Contracting Commuter Rail Service
Chairman Wilcock thanked Thom Budd and Tom Cornillie for developing the Commuter Rail to Regional Rail Call For Papers.
There was considerable discussion by Thom Budd and the Tom Cornillie concerning the topic of the commuter rail to regional rail continuum. The two gentlemen agreed to explore the potential of a session on this topic for the 89th Annual Meeting (January 2010).
Chairman Wilcock reported that on the behalf of the committee he’d agreed we’d co-sponsor a workshop on the morning of Sunday January 10, 2010 with AR040 (Local and Regional Rail Service) and other AR committees. The workshop will focus on rail capacity issues.
Committee Communications Coordinator
Chairman Wilcock introduced a new committee position requested by TRB relating to communications coordination. This individual will serve as the committee’s point of contact with TRB regarding communications techniques. TRB is interested in learning what various techniques are utilized to facilitate communication amongst the committee membership. He requested a volunteer to assume this role.
One communications related item that was mentioned as part of this discussion was the lack of a conference call option for this year’s mid-year meeting. Several members had requested a call-in option because they were unable to travel.
AP070(1) Subcommittee Meeting
David Nelson chaired a mini-meeting of the SPRC Subcommittee within the overall committee meeting. Agenda attached.
New Business
Under the topic of New Business, a request from the FRA for assistance was identified in developing a map showing passenger travel densities by segment on the national rail map. In particular the FRA would like to be able to map the density of projected 2035 travel volumes. It was suggested that this would be best accomplished by reaching out to the ~20 agencies that directly operate or sponsor such services. The committee has not assembled such a data resource.
Highlights of the Commuter Rail Round Table.
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The meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:45pm.
Distribution: Committee members
Subcommittee members
Section Chair
Group Council Chair
