The FRA’s Office of Research and Development is leading the development of new technologies that will form the foundation of the nation’s high speed rail system. The objective of this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is to solicit from unrestricted sources a variety of basic and applied technology research proposals to advance the state of the art in the high speed rail and intercity passenger service area. Projects shall be focused towards facilitating the development of technologies that can be used to achieve safe, efficient, and effective deployment of integrated passenger rail systems in the North American rail environment. Such technologies will:
- Reduce the operational and program deployment risks associated with mixed use rail lines;
- Improve safety by reducing human and technology failures;
- Bring about capital cost reductions and economy in producing equipment and facilities;
- Reduce operating costs of rail service by providing more efficient operations;
- Improve the reliability of equipment and infrastructure components by reducing failures and/or reducing false failure detections;
- Enhance the revenue-generating capability of high-speed operations by attracting greater ridership by reducing trip times, upgrading customer service quality, increasing reliability, or improving on time performance;
- Enhance the social benefits and/or environmental aspects of high-speed rail; and
- Facilitate the development of domestic manufacture of rail equipment and infrastructure components.
Broad Agency Announcement 2010-1: BAA 2010-1 Proposal Preparation Package