Key Findings

• In 2019, MxV Rail launched a new AAR university partnership program. Open to any interested U.S. university, the program focuses on investigating and developing new technologies to meet existing challenges for the North American railway industry.
• Out of 26 research proposals submitted to the program, nine projects that focused on Grand Challenge research project topics are being funded under the AAR SRI program.
• Four projects have focused on in-motion or in-situ track stability assessment. Two of the four projects are aimed at an in-situ determination of rail neutral temperature, while the other two projects are focused on assessing overall track stability. Two of the four projects have progressed toward implementation.
• Two of the remaining five projects are focused on track and rail condition monitoring using optical fiber in the track subgrade.
• The remaining three projects are focused on in-motion rail inspection using NDE methods. These projects include new and hybrid methods that allow inspection of more of the rail section or a more efficient inspection than what is allowed by current ultrasonic methods.