National Center for Sustainable Transportation

As technology advances and threats intensify, rail and public transit systems must adapt to take advantage of emerging opportunities and provide reliable service regardless of external changes. These changes reflect the pressing need for infrastructure agencies to augment their adaptive capacity. However, very few studies have examined effective adaptations and the influential factors that support or inhibit adaptation implementation in the context of these often physically inflexible and resource-limited systems. As a result, the implementation of adaptations remains uneven across agencies and system types in the United States. To address this gap, this study synthesizes findings from semi-structured interviews with 44 experts to characterize factors and options influencing adaptive capacity for rail and public transit systems to support reliable, resilient, and safe rail and transit service in the US. This study presents successfully implemented adaptations for several hazards (storms, temperature fluctuations, wildfires, and others) within an open-access adaptation dashboard for practitioners to refer to as challenges arise. This research further provides specific recommendations to improve rail and public transit service reliability, system resilience, and organizational flexibility.

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