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Coordinates: 38°26′04″N 104°17′06″W / 38.43444°N 104.28500°W / 38.43444; -104.28500
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Transportation Technology Center
IndustryRailroad equipment testing and training
PredecessorHigh Speed Ground Test Center
Founded1971; 53 years ago (1971)
Headquarters
Pueblo, Colorado
,
United States
Area served
North America
Key people
Lisa Stabler, President
Number of employees
300
ParentAssociation of American Railroads
Federal Railroad Administration
Websitewww.ttci.tech

Transportation Technology Center (TTC), is a railroad equipment testing and training facility located northeast of Pueblo, Colorado.

It originated as the Department of Transportation's High Speed Ground Test Center in 1971 as a site to test several hovertrain concepts. When those projects were completed in the 1970s, the site was handed to the Federal Railroad Administration.

The TTC is managed under a "care, custody, and control" contract with Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and serves member railroads.[1]

Facility

Aerial view of Transportation Technology Center

The Transportation Technology Center is located on a 30,000-acre site northeast of Pueblo, Colorado and just north of the US Army's Pueblo Chemical Depot. The site has laboratories and around 48 miles (77 km) of railroad track used to test locomotives, vehicles, track components, and signaling devices. The tracks are designed to replicate conditions seen on service environments, varying from pricesly engineered high-speed tracks to track intitionally designed with irregularities.[2][3][4][5]

  • Railroad Test Track (RTT): 13.5-mile (21.7 km) loop permitting speeds of 165 miles per hour (266 km/h) and equipped with overhead catenary capable of supplying power at 12.5 kV, 25 kV, and 50 kV. The RTT is used to test the performance and endurance of vehicles at high speeds. The track has one 1,525 meter curve, four 800 meter curves, and a balloon loop to turn trains around and test a tighter curve. The RTT also has a section of track called the High Speed Adjustable Perturbation Slab (HS-APS), that can be adjusted to introduce irregularities.
  • Transit Test Track (TTT): 9.1-mile (14.6 km) loop permitting speeds of 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) and equipped with a DC electrified third rail capable of supplying power at up to 1,150 volts and up to 12,000 amps. The TTT also has a section of track called the Tight Turn Loop, with a 150-foot radius, used to investigate wheel noise and car curving performance.
Locomotive painted in Association of American Railroads (AAR) livery that is used on test tracks
  • High Tonnage Loop (HTL), also known as the Facility for Accelerated Service Testing (FAST): 2.7-mile (4.3 km) loop designed to quickly test both rolling stock and track components, such as rail, ties, fasteners, frogs, turnouts, ballast, subgrade, and bridges. As part of the FAST program, a full-scale train with three SD-70 locomotives and 110 cars each loaded with 315,000-pound of weight regularly operates over the HTL at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). The equipment used is on loan from AAR member railroads, and the program is funded by AAR member railroads and railroad suppliers often contribute their components for testing. Since 1976, the FAST program has operated up to 140-million gross tons per year over the HTL.
  • Wheel/Rail Mechanism Track (WRM): 3.5-mile (5.6 km) loop designed to test vehicle performance over track that has several different types of curves and intentional irregularities designed to induce poor performance.
  • Precision Test Track (PTT): 6.2-mile (10.0 km) loop designed with intentional irregularities to test vehicles for dynamic pitch and bounce, dynamic twist and roll, and dynamic yaw and sway.
Aftermath of a 2011 test at the TTC where a GE C39-8 locomotive intentionally hit a hopper car formerly used by the Chessie System
  • Train Dynamics Track (TDT), also known as the Impact Facility: Track designed for crash-testing to determine crashworthiness and crash energy management. Facility is built to withstand loads of 3,000,000 lbs as vehicles impact a stationary object. Two trains can also be crashed into each other at the facility.

References

  1. ^ "Testing Facilities & Equipment". Federal Railroad Administration. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  2. ^ "Pueblo: Test-tube for tomorrow's railroads". Railway Age. September 13, 1971. pp. 38–42.
  3. ^ "On-Site Track at TTCI". Transportation Technology Center, Inc. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  4. ^ "Transportation Technology Center Inc. (TTCI) - Railway Research (developed by UIC)". www.railway-research.org. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  5. ^ "Having a smashing time in Pueblo". Rail (magazine). No. 336. July 29, 1998. pp. 36–40.

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38°26′04″N 104°17′06″W / 38.43444°N 104.28500°W / 38.43444; -104.28500

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