Rail union, Texas university partner to advance safety, workforce efforts

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has entered into a $9.7 million research partnership with the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen to advance rail safety and workforce development.

The Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program is funding the initiative, formally titled "Next Generation PTC-Integrated Onboard Smart Technologies for Rolling Stock Condition Monitoring to Mitigate Train Derailment," or NexGenPOST2.

The university’s Transportation Center for Railway Safety received $4 million to help integrate predictive technologies into positive train control systems by providing laboratory testing and data analysis for the research program, university officials said in a press release.

Other partners in the project include the Transportation Technology Center by ENSCO Inc. and Hum Industrial Technology Inc.

“This partnership highlights the potential to shape the future of rail safety by bringing together labor representatives, academia and private industry to tackle long-standing challenges and drive meaningful change,” said then-FRA Administrator Amit Bose at the partnership signing ceremony held Jan. 16.