Future of railroad safety tested in Pueblo
The deadly train derailment north of Pueblo last year, has sparked an initiative to improve railway safety. Senator John Hickenlooper says it all starts in Pueblo at the Transportation Technology C… The future of railway safety in the United States is being tested in Pueblo following a train derailment north of the city of 2023 that resulted in a deadly incident in 2023. U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper met with officials from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), and Pueble leaders to tour Puebl's Transportation Technology Center (TTC) and discuss improvements to railway safety. The tour included a tour of the TTC’s vehicle crash wall, over 50 miles of railway test track, and a ride on a hydrogen-powered train. Since its dedication as a high-speed ground test center in 1971, the TTC has been instrumental in the research, development, and testing of rail infrastructure and equipment. CSU Pueblueblo is working to strengthen Colorado's workforce in transportation research and safety.
प्रकाशित : 4 सप्ताह पहले द्वारा Austin Sack में
(PUEBLO) — The deadly train derailment north of Pueblo in 2023 has sparked an initiative to improve railway safety.
On Wednesday, April 4, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper met with officials from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), and Pueblo leaders to tour Pueblo’s Transportation Technology Center (TTC). The senator’s tour allowed leaders to discuss improvements to railway safety, including Hickenlooper’s support for the bipartisan Railway Safety Act, and CSU Pueblo’s recent $1 million congressionally directed spending award to strengthen Colorado’s workforce in transportation research and safety.
Participants toured TTC’s vehicle crash wall, more than 50 miles of railway test track, and took a ride on a hydrogen-powered train.
“It’s as quiet as any electric vehicle I have ever been in,” Sen. Hickenlooper said.
A hydrogen train is a rail vehicle that uses hydrogen as a fuel to generate electricity. Lawmakers are celebrating the new technology and are working to bring it to Colorado.
“I always call it the great transition, where we recognize we have to address climate change,” Sen. Hickenlooper explained. “We’ve got to do it in the most cost-effective way possible. We’ve got to make our communities better, and getting this kind of transit in place is exactly how we do this.”
Since its dedication as a high-speed ground test center in 1971, the TTC in Pueblo has played a vital role in the research, development, and testing of rail infrastructure and equipment.
Many Southern Colorado community members may remember the derailment of a coal train just north of Pueblo in October of 2023, which caused a bridge collapse that killed a semi-truck driver and closed I-25 in both directions for nearly a week.
“Putting money into our infrastructure is so long overdue, and we’re seeing how many vulnerabilities we have right now, whether it’s the bridge in Baltimore or the derailment we had here in Pueblo,” Sen. Hickenlooper said. “I don’t think there’s a good excuse for that, but we let America’s infrastructure get so far behind in terms of maintenance and safety.”
Sen. Hickenlooper is a prime sponsor of the Railway Safety Act, which looks to establish new railway safety requirements and emergency response procedures.
CSU Pueblo is getting involved and is working to strengthen Colorado’s workforce in transportation research and safety.
“There’s been a concerted effort to engage with the university, both for our students and both from a curricular aspect, but also in addition, we hosted the Southern Colorado Institute for Transportation Technology,” Armando Valdez, CSU Pueblo President explained. “That’s something where we want to work on not only to prepare the next generation of transportation experts but also be able to look at how do we research and advance new technology that we can utilize in transportation sectors.”