Capitalizing on Operations and Maintenance Best Practices in the Design of a New Commuter Rail System

This paper will provide operations and maintenance best practices that are being used to drive design concepts for a new Regional Rail system in the Triangle Region of North Carolina. The Regional Rail project consists of a 28-mile long, mostly double-tracked rail alignment, which will connect Downtown Raleigh and Downtown Durham, NC. Twelve station stops, with high level boarding, are anticipated to be served by approximately 24 self-propelled, bi-directional diesel multiple unit (DMU) rail cars. The alignment runs parallel to a freight railroad and no street running section is anticipated. Thirty four highway at-grade crossings and equipment will be shared with two operating freight railroads. A new maintenance facility and control center will be built in Durham from where all vehicle and system maintenance and dispatching of Regional Rail operations will be conducted. This paper will first highlight key operations and maintenance strategies that are driving design concepts. Second, service reliability and maintainability approaches and their importance in the selection of technology choices, balancing capital and O&M costs, and specification development will be discussed. Third, service flexibility in abnormal operations and the resulting impacts in selecting single-track sections, number and placements of interlockings, sidings, etc. will also be presented. This paper will conclude by highlighting design choices that are being made in anticipation for future expansions of the Regional Rail system.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/1933452080
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Conference:
  • ITE 2005 Annual Meeting and Exhibit Compendium of Technical Papers
  • Location: Melbourne , Australia
  • Date: 2005-8-7 to 2005-8-10
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Illustrations; References;
• Pagination: 12p
• Monograph Title: ITE 2005 Annual Meeting and Exhibit Compendium of Technical Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Design; Interlocking aggregates; Maintenance; Operations; Railroad transportation; Railroad travel; Railroads; Regional transportation; Service by length of haul; Technological innovations
• Geographic Terms: Durham (North Carolina)
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Design; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01006774
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 1933452080
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Oct 28 2005 4:20PM