ENSCO, Inc. has been awarded a $571 million USD contract to support the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in its goal to establish the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) as a center for rail and ground transportation innovation. As part of the contract, ENSCO is supported by a team of leading surface transportation research, training, technology, and facilities management organizations focused on next generation technology supporting transportation infrastructure.
The Center for Surface Transportation Testing and Academic Research (C-STTAR), a consortium of eight universities and academic research centers, makes up a portion of ENSCO’s team. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is part of this consortium headed by the University of South Florida Center for Urban Transportation Research. Also included is Colorado State University-Pueblo, Michigan Tech, the University of Hawaii, Michigan State University, Oregon State University, and the Mineta Transportation Institute.
Researchers in the College of Engineering and NTC’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) will provide extensive and knowledgeable support of the FRA’s mission to develop a vibrant, engaging, and modern TTC that fosters innovation, encourages positive change, and creates opportunity. MwRSF’s contributions will be largely focused in the areas of vehicle run-off-road containment and occupant crash safety, vehicle stability, control, security and modeling research, and high-energy vehicle disaster prevention.
The transfer of TTC operations to the ENSCO team is expected to be completed by October 2022. They will continue to support the many site stakeholders, including the Association of American Railroads and its members, while also expanding to other modes of transportation with this new team of industry and university research, safety, technology, testing, and training entities.
