AAR's Tech Center tries to keep a valued customer - American Association of Railroads Transportation Center provides services to Federal Railroad Administration

Railway Age, May, 1995

The Federal Railroad Administration, which used to operate the Transportation Technology Center at Pueblo, Colo., is now a customer of the Tech Center, a very satisfied customer. Whether that will continue to be the case is up to Congress.

The Tech Center began life in the 1960s as a federal government test site for high speed ground transportation. Gradually, it evolved into what is widely regarded today as the world's most advanced railroad testing ground, a 52-acre complex with 48 miles of track and sophisticated laboratory facilities capable of testing all types of rolling stock, track components, and signal and safety devices.

The TTC has not always been a model of efficiency. Indeed, in the early `80s, soaring costs threatened to shut down the center.

In 1981, TTC cost the FRA $22 million (in 1981 dollars) - $10 million to a contractor for operation and maintenance, and $12 million for research work.

In 1982, the Association of American Railroads assumed control of the TTC. The move proved to be a shrewd one, financially, for the federal government.

In 1983, AAR's first full year of operation, FRA contributed 92% of the TTC's $10 million in revenue. In 1994, FRA contributed less than 21% of TTC's revenue, or $4.5 million. AAR says its recent decision to consolidate all of its research efforts at TTC will reduce FRA's annual contribution to 16% of a projected $27 million budget by 1996.

Meanwhile, revenues from commercial clients, only $83,000 under FRA, have grown to $9 million in 1995 under AAR management.

This history of the TTC was sketched by AAR President Edwin L. Harper as he testified on March 23 before the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Transportation on FRA's proposed FY 1996 R&D budget.

"Despite the substantial increase in commercial activity and AAR's decision to consolidate all cooperative research at TTC, government participation remains essential to the health of TTC," said Harper. "This includes a minimum level of federal research of $5.5 million at TTC - a level that is included in AAR's contract to operate TTC."

Why should the federal government continue to support this private-public partnership? Harper made these points, among others:

"FRA's research activities are directed towards improving safety. Because these activities are conducted cooperatively with the railroad industry and railroad suppliers, this government-industry cooperation avoids duplication of effort, allows economies of scale, and increases the likelihood that R&D results will be implemented...

"AAR management of TTC provides the federal government and the transportation industry access to the finest rail research facility in the world at a substantially lower cost than had been possible when the government operated [it]. A recent example of the importance of this relationship to transportation policy is the decision to test at TTC the high speed passenger train equipment intended for use by Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor...

"FRA's R&D program has played an important role in improving public safety, and there are numerous examples of safety-related technology gains from FRA's R&D activities.

"FRA/industry cooperation literally reinvented the wheel - the freight car wheel whose shape and metallurgy were changed to create fewer broken wheels that cause derailments. The introduction of heat treated, curved plate wheels has resulted in a 73% reduction in wheel-caused derailments between 1981 and 1993.

"FRA's R&D program has yielded other public benefits, such as test procedures to ensure the safety and track worthiness of new freight cars, improvements in the structural integrity of tank cars, and train and vehicle computer simulations for derailment analysis and prevention.

"Where regulatory responsibilities dictate, FRA has maintained its independent activities. And certainly some private-sector R&D is not appropriate for cooperative effort. But where there are joint objectives and concerns, cooperation has been excellent...

"Research and development dollars are too scarce to be squandered on redundant programs. FRA/rail industry cooperative .activities will result in more timely output, and the implementation of research results will be more effective as a result."