UIUC’s RailTEC receives federal grant to develop transit system track components

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
image description
Left to right, CEE graduate research assistants Matthew Csenge, Henry Wolf and Matthew Greve in a New York City subway station.
UIUC College of Engineering

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign received a $2.4-million, two-year grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) will develop new designs for concrete crossties and fastening systems used in light rail, heavy rail and commuter rail infrastructure that take into account their unique loading conditions.

“The resulting components will be more resilient to their respective loading environments and should allow transit agencies to increase the effectiveness of their capital spending by designing infrastructure components that will accommodate the specific types of loads encountered,” said J. Riley Edwards, a senior lecturer and research scientist at RailTEC.

The research team — made up of experts in transportation, structures and materials in CEE — will work with transit industry partners from across the country.

The work will be done at RailTEC’s new Research and Innovation Laboratory at the Schnabel Laboratory on the campus of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in northwest Champaign, Ill., and at rail transit field test sites around the nation.

“This is our first project sponsored by the FTA and we are excited about the opportunity,” said CEE Professor Chris Barkan, director of RailTEC.

The project, “Resilient Concrete Crosstie and Fastening System Designs for Light Rail, Heavy Rail, and Commuter Rail Transit Infrastructure,” will involve the following rail transit industry partners: the American Public Transportation Association, New York City Transit, MetroLink (St. Louis), TriMet (Portland, Ore.), Metra (Chicago), Amtrak, CXT Concrete Ties Inc., GIC Inc., Pandrol USA, Amsted RPS and Hanson Professional Services Inc.

 

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