Providing quantitative analysis to support railway systems and technological innovation at the nexus of train control, energy and automation.
Recent News
Summer Conference Round-Up
It was a busy summer of conferences for TRAIN faculty and students!
In May, TRAIN doctoral students Rydell Walthall and Steven Shi travelled to the ASME/IEEE/ASCE Joint Rail Conference in Columbia, SC. Rydell presented on his work to model and optimize partial railway electrification using overhead catenary and batteries. Steven presented on his work to model the sensitivity of diesel fuel savings from battery electric locomotive deployment.
In June, Prof. Dick travelled to Atlanta to chair sessions at the ASCE International Conference on Transportation & Development. He also made two presentations, one on ongoing research for Parallel Systems on self-propelled autonomous railcars for transporting shipping containers, and a second presentation on ongoing work with Michigan Technological University to development a framework for LCA of track maintenance material and activity emissions.
Finally, in August, Prof. Dick travelled to Livonia, MI (outside Detroit) to present at the Michigan Rail Conference. His talk addressed the challenges of creating capacity for passenger operations on freight rail corridors.
New Journal Publication!
Excited to announce that TRAIN PhD student Steven Shi and Prof. Dick have recently published a new research paper in the Transportation Research Record academic journal! This paper is related to Steven’s work to investigate the adoption of heavy axle loads by US freight railroads to transport different commodities.
The reference and DOI link for the paper is as follows:
Shi, D., and C.T. Dick. 2024. Influence of interchange, train type and commodity shipped on the adoption of higher gross rail load railcars by US freight railroads. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. doi: 10.1177/03611981241257411.
Dr. Dick goes to Washington
In June, Prof. Dick travelled to Washington DC to provide expert testimony to the US House Committee on Science, Space & Technology. The committee’s Investigations & Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing entitled “Environmentalism Off the Rails: How CARB will Cripple the National Rail Network“. A video of the hearing, including Prof. Dick’s testimony on the operational limitations and development and deployment challenges of alternative energy locomotives technology for mainline freight rail applications, can be found here: https://youtu.be/V8Wth0Zj7zA
New Journal Publication!
Excited to announce that TRAIN students Geordie Roscoe and Matt Parkes, along with Prof. Dick have recently published a new research paper in the Transportation Research Record academic journal! This paper is related to their work on initial operational modeling of platoons of battery-powered, autonomous, Parallel Systems rail vehicles to transport intermodal shipping containers on low-density short-haul corridors.
The reference and DOI link for the paper is as follows:
Roscoe, G.S., M.M. Parkes and C.T. Dick. 2024. Improving short-haul intermodal transit times on low-density rail corridors with platoons of Self-Propelled Autonomous Railcars (SPARCs). Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. doi: 10.1177/03611981241248442.
Congratulations Dr. Zhao!
Congratulations to TRAIN PhD student Jiaxi Zhao on successfully defending and depositing her Doctoral dissertation! As the first TRAIN PhD graduate, her dissertation is entitled “Simulation of Hump Classification Yard Performance: Railway Network Resiliency and Operational Consequences of Yard Disruptions and Derailments”. We’ll miss Jiaxi as she graduates to a career in the rail industry!
New Journal Publication!
Excited to announce that TRAIN PhD student Jiaxi Zhao and Prof. Dick have recently published a new research paper in the Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management! This paper is related to Jiaxi’s work on investigating the performance degradation and resiliency of freight rail hump classification yards when subject to a service disruption of different durations while subject to various traffic utilization levels. The work was performed using an original simulation model that Jiaxi created in AnyLogic.
The reference and DOI link for the paper is as follows:
Zhao, J., and C.T. Dick. 2024. Predicting and measuring service disruption recovery time in railway gravity hump classification yards. Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management. 29: 100433. doi: 10.1016/j.jrtpm.2024.100433.
TRB and Paper Award!
In early January, TRAIN students attended the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington DC. Steven Shi presented his research paper into the rate US railroads adopted heavy axle loads for different freight commodities, while Matt Parkes presented on his modeling of Parallel Systems battery-powered Self-Propelled Autonomous RailCars (SPARCs) to improve intermodal container transit time for short hauls.
In addition, Jiaxi Zhao and Prof. Dick were honored to receive the Outstanding Paper Award from the TRB Hazmat Transportation Committee for the paper entitled “Probabilistic Risk Analysis of Unit Trains versus Manifest Trains for Transporting Hazardous Materials” published in the Accident Analysis & Prevention journal!
Fall Conferences
TRAIN faculty and staff were represented at several key rail industry conferences this fall. In October, Prof. Dick attended the 2023 American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana where he became the new Chair of AREMA Committee 16 “Economics of Railway Engineering and Operations”.
Also in October, Jiaxi Zhao attended the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona where she presented on her research related to disruption recovery time of railway hump classification yards.
Finally, in November, Prof. Dick attended the 2023 Railroad Environmental Conference in Urbana, Illinois where he made a presentation summarizing several active TRAIN research projects related to alternative energy for railway applications sponsored by the FRA, ARPA-E and Parallel Systems, and also on our FRA-sponsored project related to the LCA of emissions for track maintenance activities.
TRAIN Tacos!
IHHA 2023 in Rio
In late August, TRAIN faculty and students travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to attend the 12th International Heavy Haul Association Conference and present several research papers and posters. Prof. Dick presented on work to develop the Advanced Locomotive Technology and Rail Infrastructure Optimization System (ALTRIOS) model to investigate different freight rail decarbonization strategies.
Steven Shi presented on his work to investigate the adoption rate of heavy axle loads for different freight commodities by US railroads.
The conference concluded with a technical visit to view track maintenance activity and train operations on the MRS rail network in the interior north of Rio.
