Operations
IIJA Funding Cycle
2025CY Research Projects
The following research projects for the 2025 calendar year have been approved internally by the UTCRS Executive Team and the External Advisory Board and are pending USDOT UTC Program Manager final approval:
- Quantifying Traffic at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings Using Artificial Intelligence [Exhibit D - O1CY25]
- Design of Dynamic Train Crossing Estimation and Real-Time Traffic Control Systems for Grade Crossing Safety [Exhibit D - O2CY25]
- Intelligent Aerial Drones for Railroad Track Traversability Assessment, Intrusion Detection and Integrity Evaluation [Exhibit D - O3CY25]
- Multi-modal AI Agents for Railway Safety [Exhibit D - O4CY25]
- Non-Motorist Safety at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings: Developing a Crash Prediction Model with Integrated Non-Motorist Exposure – Year 3 [Exhibit D - O5CY25]
2024CY Research Projects
The following research projects have been approved for the 2024 calendar year:
- Enhanced Datasets and AI Models for Monitoring of Grade Crossings [Exhibit D - O1CY24]
- Federated Learning for Railway Safety Analysis and Prediction [Exhibit D - O2CY24]
- Intelligent Aerial Drones for Traversability Assessment of Railroad Tracks: Year 2 [Exhibit D - O3CY24]
- Non-Motorist Safety at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings: Developing a Crash Prediction Model
with Integrated Non-Motorist Exposure [Exhibit D - O4CY24] - Optimizing Emergency Response: Intelligent Routing Decision Support System for First
Responders at Rail Crossings [Exhibit D - O5CY24] - Towards Building a Foundation AI Model for Railway Safety [Exhibit D - O6CY24]
- Track Intrusion Detection and Track Integrity Evaluation: Year 2 [Exhibit D - O7CY24]
2023CY Research Projects
The following research projects have been approved for the 2023 calendar year:
- Development of a National Track Safety Database [Exhibit D - O1CY23] [Final Report - O1CY23]
- Mining and Learning from Railway Safety Data with Graphs and Tensors [Exhibit D - O2CY23] [Final Report - O2CY23]
- Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings (HRGCs) [Exhibit D - O3CY23] [Final Report - O3CY23]
- Satellite Radar Data Analysis for Change Detection of Rural and Urban Railways [Exhibit D - O4CY23] [Final Report - O4CY23]
- Track Intrusion Detection and Track Integrity Evaluation [Exhibit D - O5CY23] [Final Report - O5CY23]
- Grade Crossing Monitoring Using Deep Learning [Exhibit D - O6CY23] [Final Report - O6CY23]
MAP-21 Funding Cycle
2015CY Research Projects
The following research projects have been approved for the 2015 calendar year:
- Anti-Icing LED Light Covers for Railroad Safety [Exhibit D - O1CY15]
- Heavy Truck and Bus Traversability at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings [Exhibit D - O2CY15]
- Improving Crash Prediction - A More Relevant Exposure Measure than AADT for Highway-Rail Crossing Safety Models [Exhibit D - O3CY15]
- Best Practices for Modeling Light Rail at Intersections [Exhibit D - O4CY15]
- Unifying Railcar Monitoring Sensor Data, Maintenance Records, and Railcar Usage Information through Big Data Processing for Optimization Railcar Maintenance and Safety [Exhibit D - O5CY15]
- Shipments of Oil By Rail: Economic Implications for Safety and Safety-Related Investments [Exhibit D - O6CY15]
- Highway-Rail Crossing Safety Improvement by Diverting Motorists to Alternate Routes [Exhibit D - O7CY15]
- Railyard Worker Safety through Innovative Mobile Active Train Detection and Risk Localization [Exhibit D - O8CY15]
2014CY Research Projects
The following research projects have been approved for the 2014 calendar year:
- Development of Corridor-based Traffic Signal Preemption Strategies at Signalized Intersections near Highway Railway Grade Crossings [Exhibit D - O1CY14]
- Drivers’ Perceptions of Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety and Their Behavior [Exhibit D - O1CY14]
- Safety Modeling of Highway Railway Grade Crossings Using Intelligent Transportation System Data [Exhibit D - O2CY14]
- Improving Safety at Rural Highway-Rail Grade Crossings by Utilizing Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Technology [Exhibit D - O3CY14]