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Article: Impact of FAST on track technology and safety: testing performed at TTCI's FAST has provided the railroad industry with improvements in different components, from special trackwork to thermite welds to rail steels.(TTCI R&D)(Facility for Accelerated Service Testing)
- Article from:
- Railway Track and Structures
- Article date:
- August 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Almost 2.5 billion gross tons of traffic has been generated over the tracks at the Transportation Technology Center, Inc.'s Facility for Accelerated Service Testing, with nearly 1.5 billion gross tons of that traffic from 39-ton axle loads. This operation at FAST has provided essential support to a 30-year research effort by the Association of American Railroads aimed at developing track components that can withstand increasingly-heavier axle loads.
FAST supports this research by providing a full-scale test facility that allows close and controlled monitoring of components and maintenance practices--where variables can be individually isolated to properly ...