UTRGV Rail Safety Center has been inspiring students for 10 years

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EDINBURG — For more than a decade, UTRGV’s University Transportation Center for Rail Safety (UTCRS) has been at the forefront of safety in the industry, while providing students interested in engineering practical and concrete experience.

Led by UTRS Director Constantine Tarawneh, the center was established in fall 2013 with a $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In his 10 years in business, he has seen countless students come through the center and be inspired by engineering summer camps to choose a career. Some have even worked at the center, citing their passion born in one of the camps.

UTRS operates as a consortium with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, the University of Nebraska Transportation Center, the University of South Carolina, the University of California-Riverside and South Texas College.

The center leads the way in efforts to reduce railroad-related deaths and injuries. Efforts include improving grade crossing safety, developing sustainable materials and innovating advanced infrastructure monitoring technologies, significantly contributing to safer rail operations nationwide.

Tarawneh said the center has five key elements regarding research, education, workforce development, technology transfer and community engagement.

The research carried out at the center can be subdivided into three focus areas: railway mechanical systems, railway operations and railway infrastructure.

The Monitor visited the lab area where Tarawneh and her students explained what is currently being researched and other functions of the center.

While several projects were underway at the same time, Tarawneh detailed one that was completed entirely by graduate students.

By creating a mechanism that replicates the vertical and lateral impact on a train bearing, the project involves seeing how different movements affect operating temperature.

“When we prepare them for a master’s degree, we give them a project in the last year as seniors, that way once they start their master’s degree they can hit the ground running instead of being delayed,” did he declare.

Tarawneh said much of the testing done at the center is outsourced to industry companies asking those questions.

Pointing to another machine, he said he was testing how the ideal timing for a certain rollover affected this one.

“These are bearings that performed ideally for a year,” Tarawneh said. “The East Palestine, Ohio, derailment was caused by one of these bearings that sat unused for nearly two years. So the job falls to the National Transportation Safety Board. They are trying to understand if the periods of inactivity have anything to do with the bearing failure.

Tarawneh added that the machine traveled approximately 40,000 miles, or almost a month non-stop, with other machines built for a longer duration, such as 200,000 miles non-stop over a six-month period.

Other parts of the lab include a temperature-controlled room to see how subzero temperatures affect railroads, a 300-ton press to be able to press bearings onto axles, the only one south of San Antonio, and a laboratory where students can make bearings and test bearings sent by companies.

“No other university in the United States … or private company has the testers that we have,” he said. “The only places you’ll find similar testers are from bearing manufacturers, but these are not open to the general public, meaning they are only for their own testing. We have the largest bearing library, students build bearings, customers send us bearings. If they want to get into the U.S. market, the only way to get in…especially rail, you have to do testing at our facilities.

Building almost everything in-house, the students built a machine to remove bearings from wheels, at a cost of about $8,000, compared to about $55,000 to purchase a machine.

“They learn how to make bearings to specifications, they learn how to assemble bearings, how to inspect them, and in case of an accident…they send the bearing to us to do a full inspection,” Tarawneh said.

Showing different bearings, their faults and explaining why this happened, the center manufactured sensors to be able to detect faults in time and avoid accidents.

“A lot of the studies we do are aimed at mitigating derailments and finding out why these things happen,” he said.

With all the advancements and accolades in the rail industry, Tarawneh said one of the most rewarding parts of the center is being able to fund student opportunities.

“Currently we have 95 students working for the center,” he said. “One of my students who graduated in 2012, I sent her to do a doctorate at Nebraska. She graduated, went to Penn State, got a tenure-track job and just received her career award, the National Science Foundation Career Achievement Award, which is the highest and most prestigious award . So seeing that really makes me, you know, proud of the fact that I was a part of their journey and their success.