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Rail News Home Mechanical

1/12/2004



Rail News: Mechanical

FRA contracts Foster-Miller to improve locomotive-component designs


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The Federal Railroad Administration recently awarded Foster-Miller Inc. a two-year, $9 million contract to produce and test locomotive components designed to improve crashworthiness and fuel-tank safety, and minimize train-accident injuries, according to a news item on Association of American Railroads' Web site.

Foster-Miller will produce and analyze components — such as redesigned windshield structures and fuel tanks — at its Fitchburg, Mass., locomotive test facility, which includes a 1 million-pound loading fixture designed to accommodate 40,000-pound test locomotives. Under the contract, the company also will try to find more efficient ways to evacuate people from disabled trains.

Since 1995, Foster-Miller has created computerized train-collision simulations, which the company's officials use to analyze different types of train accidents and modify locomotive-component designs.