COMPRESSION LOADS FOR LIGHT RAIL VEHICLES IN THE UNITED STATES

The requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act for light rail vehicles (LRVs), resulting in the emergence of lower floors and cutouts in the underframe for wheelchair lifts, will create new challenges for structural engineers. These challenges will make it necessary to reexamine the specified LRV design compression loads and to compare them with design compression loads on other types of vehicles. When a comparison takes into consideration the size of the trains and their operating speeds, a case can be made for lowering the compression load of 2 g at AWO (empty) vehicle weight currently prevailing in U.S. specifications. A crash index is introduced that indicates how much compression resistance is assigned to absorb and disperse a unit of a train's energy. It is concluded that the LRV crash index is approximately four times higher than that for mainline or rapid transit cars. Accordingly, LRV compression loads should be lowered to provide greater safety, lower weight, lower energy consumption, and more attractive general arrangements.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: p. 194-198
  • Monograph Title: SEVENTH NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, NOVEMBER 12-15, 1995. VOLUME 1
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00716778
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 0309061520
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Jan 30 1996 12:00AM