Reducing the Stress State of Railway Bridges With Research

This article describes the type of research that is done by the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), a subsidiary of the Association of America Railroads. It covers the benefits of research, studies that improved knowledge of bridge loads, the economics of heavy-axle-load traffic, and the performance of steel bridges and their components. In addition, the article describes the behavior of concrete and timber bridges and studies related to seismic activity. The article suggests that changes in train speeds, traffic density, increasing amounts of heavy-axle-load traffic and constraints on construction will provide substantial challenges for bridge engineers in the future.