Derailment of transit vehicles in special trackwork, both in yards and on mainline track, is a major concern to transit properties because of safety and economic considerations. Vehicle characteristics, track structure details, operating conditions, and design and maintenance practices influence derailment occurrences. Transit properties employ different design and maintenance practices and use various methods to reduce such occurrences. However, research was needed to investigate the parameters that contribute to derailments in special trackwork, to evaluate current mitigation methods, and to develop better means for reducing such derailments.

The research focused on the design and maintenance aspects of transit track that influence derailments in special trackwork, both in yards and on mainline track and addressed turnouts, cross-overs, diamonds, guard rails, and restraining rails. The research did not address those human factors that lead to such incidents.

The objectives of this research were to (a) develop optimum mitigation methods and (b) provide design and maintenance guidelines that can be used by transit properties to reduce incidents of transit-vehicle derailments in special trackwork. The guidelines cover typical rail-transit situations encountered in yards and on mainline track.

Status: A summary of the project results has been published as TCRP Research Results Digest No. 15, "Derailment of Transit Vehicles in Special Trackwork." It is also available in portable document format (PDF). Double-click on the file below to access RRD 15. (A free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at https://www.adobe.com). Copies of the final report are available upon request.

TCRP Research Results Digest No. 15