TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 127: Addressing Difficult Customer Situations considers issues surrounding difficult customers or passengers and the variety of circumstances that can arise when they utilize transit system facilities or vehicles. The report identifies current practices used by transit agencies to prevent, prepare for, and deal with these incidents. View the.. read more →

The Mineta Transportation Institute has released a report that reviews efforts of commuter railroads to reduce or prevent suicide on railways and implement preventative activities affecting rail-related suicides. View Report read more →

On April 7, 2016, FTA issued Safety Advisory 16-1 to collect information on the frequency of stop signal overruns in the rail transit industry and the actions being taken to address these occurrences. FTA is aware of stop signal overrun incidents, but lacks an industry-wide database on the issue. Some State Safety Oversight Agencies (SSOAs).. read more →

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced a final rule that significantly strengthens state safety oversight and enforcement authority to prevent and mitigate accidents and incidents on rail transit systems. “With the more rigorous and effective state safety oversight required by this final rule and federal law, transit systems across the nation.. read more →

An overview of Naztec’s experience developing traffic signal controller software for light rail preemption and priority service is provided. It is also explained how NTCIP 1211 can provide a common framework for preemption and priority based service to strike a balance between transit and system needs.  View Report read more →

The NTSB conducts thorough investigations (including root-cause analyses) of events – not simply stopping with the obvious. Presentation | Abstract read more →

TRB has released TCRP Report 175: Guidebook on Pedestrian Crossings of Public Transit Rail Services. This report presents a wide array of engineering treatments designed to help improve pedestrian safety for three types of ¬public transit rail services: light rail, commuter rail and streetcar. View Report read more →

The primary goals of this report are to discuss measures to prevent suicides on commuter and metro rail systems, and to outline an approach for suicide prevention on rail systems. Based on existing literature and analysis of data obtained from the Metrolink system in Southern California, it was found that most suicides occur near station.. read more →

A recent preliminary communication suggested that the calming effect of blue lights installed at the ends of railway platforms in Japan reduced suicides by 84%. This estimate is potentially misleading from an epidemiological point of view and is reconsidered in the present study. Governmental data listing all railway suicide attempts in Japan from April 2002.. read more →

Urban centers often have public transportation stations near busy streets, in locations where potential users may have to cross a street to board the train. Depending on the station location, the traffic and pedestrian density, and frequency of service, pedestrian street crossing behavior may be problematic. Over the course of a typical day, depending on.. read more →