Current Research

Planned research activities include the following three primary research thrust areas, under which various specific topics proposed to date are listed below: 1) Railroad Infrastructure, 2) Railroad Vehicles, and 3) Railroad Systems. In each of these areas, our overarching theme is questions related to shared rail corridors involving research projects ranging from basic to applied. The list below summarizes research projects currently in progress.

# NURail Project ID Project Manager Principal Investigator University Dept Project Title - Click on the title for more information Start Date End Date
NURail2012-MTU-R01 Lautala Sanders MTU Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) for Railroad Wheels 1/31/2012 1/31/2014
NURail2012-MTU-R02 Lautala Vitton MTU Assessment of Aggregate Sources in Michigan for High Speed Railroad Ballast 6/1/2013 12/31/2013
NURail2012-MTU-R03 Lautala Hill MTU Influence of Driver Attention on Rail Crossing Safety 5/1/2012 1/31/2014
NURail2012-MTU-R05 Lautala Pentti MTU Improving Rural Freight Rail in the State of Michigan 12/1/2012 7/31/2013
10 NURail2012-UIC-R03 Shabana Wolfson UIC COE The Informed Railroad Traveler (Smartphone application) 5/1/2012 1/31/2014
13 NURail2012-UIC-R06 Schlickman Schlickman, Ai UIC CUPPA Environmental Impact Assessment of Rail Infrastructure 5/16/2012 12/13/2013
14 NURail2012-UIC-R07 Schlickman Schlickman, Sriraj, Metaxatos UIC CUPPA Railroad Grade Crossing Pedestrian Safety 6/1/2012 1/31/2014
15 NURail2012-UIC-R08 Schlickman Schlickman, Smith UIC CUPPA Value Capture Strategies for the Funding of Rail Construction and Operation 6/1/2012 12/31/2013
16 NURail2012-UIC-R09 Schlickman Kawamura UIC CUPPA Economic Benefits of Productivity Increases through Truck-to-Rail Mode Shift in Freight Transport 8/1/2012 1/31/2014
18 NURail2012-UIUC-R02 Barkan Benekohal UIUC Railroad Grade Crossing Micro-Level Safety and Risk Analysis 8/15/2012 8/15/2013
19 NURail2012-UIUC-R03 Barkan Tutumluer UIUC Improving Track Substructure Designs and Settlement due to Complex Dynamic Loads from High-Speed Passenger and Freight Trains 8/1/2012 12/31/2013
20 NURail2012-UIUC-R04 Barkan Andrawes UIUC Development of a 3D FEM Model for Concrete Tie and Fastening Systems TBD TBD
21 NURail2012-UIUC-R05 Barkan UIUC Impact of High-Speed Passenger Trains on Freight Train Efficiency in Shared Railway Corridors TBD TBD
28 NURail2012-UTK-R01 Clarke Ma, Clarke UTK CEE/CTR Assessment of Existing Railroad Bridges to Accommodate a Higher Speed Considering Chinese Practices 6/1/2012 11/30/2013
29 NURail2012-UTK-R02 Clarke Bennett, Ma UTK Lateral Impact of Railroad Bridges with Hybrid-Composite Beams 7/1/2012 12/31/2013
30 NURail2012-UTK-R03 Clarke Huang UTK Development of New Damping Materials for Ballastless Trackbed and their Behavior under Mixed Traffic 7/1/2012 12/31/2013
31 NURail2012-UTK-R04 Clarke Clarke, Jin UTK Evaluation of Terminal Capacity Models for Rail Freight Flow Analysis 9/1/2012 12/31/2013
NURail2013-UIUC-R07 Barkan Benekohal UIUC Railroad Grade Crossing Micro-Level Safety and Risk Analysis - Phase 2 7/1/2014 6/20/2015
33 NURail2013-UIUC-R10 Barkan Tutumluer UIUC Improving Track Substructure Designs and Settlement due to Complex Dynamic Loads from High-Speed Passenger and Freight Trains (Phase 2) (continuation of NURail2012-UIUC-R03) 5/16/15 5/16/2016
34 NURail2014-UIUC-R09 Barkan Andrawes UIUC Numerical Investigation of Impact Load Effects on Railroad Track Systems 12/1/2014 5/31/2016