New research from the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) at San Jose State University and its university partners offers practical approaches to strengthen rail safety and resilience regarding natural hazards, severe weather and other disruptive events.
“Resilience is ultimately about keeping people and goods moving safely,” MTI Deputy Executive Director Hilary Nixon said. “This research gives rail agencies practical tools to prepare for challenges before they become crises.”
The document provides emergency managers, public agencies, railroad operators and other transportation professionals with tools and approaches to identify risks and improve rail system resilience. They include guidance for identifying and assessing hazards, developing emergency plans, and training personnel, and tools for mapping vulnerabilities across the U.S. rail network to identify at-risk rail segments and support planning and investment.
Transportation professionals should use real-time hazard detection technology such as lidar, cameras and deep learning to detect people, vehicles, fallen rocks, and other potential threats to rail safety.
The Community Resilience Extreme Events Portal combines wildfire danger, critical asset and vulnerability data to assess risk along California’s Class I rail networks. It also provides wildfire preparedness training for urban rail operators.
Analysis of 43 freight plans and a nationwide survey identifying barriers such as limited funding, fragmented governance, and public-private coordination is included.