Resilient Wayside Structures and Passenger Car Survivability

Additional passenger fatalities and injuries can occur during derailments due to interaction with wayside structures, such as catenary poles, bridge abutments, and discontinuities in third rails at highway grade crossings. Resilient wayside structures can reduce these risks, by lessening the amount of intrusion, penetration, and passenger motion. PEC and Arup will work together to develop resilient wayside structure concept designs, based on reducing stiffness and strength, incorporating energy absorbing mechanisms and allowing failure to occur in a controlled and predictable manner. Novel materials and structural configurations will be devised and assessed, with consideration of maintenance requirements, environmental effects, and impact on daily operations. This project will encompass an assessment of wayside structure risk, development of resilient wayside structure concepts, engineering analysis, numerical simulations, and preliminary test planning.