Transportation Technology Center, Inc.

Transportation Technology Center (TTC), is a railroad equipment testing and training facility located northeast of Pueblo, Colorado.
It originated as the High Speed Ground Test Center (HSGTC) for the Department of Transportation (DOT) in 1971 as a site to test several hovertrain concepts. When those projects were completed in the 1970s, the site was handed to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
The TTC is managed under a "care, custody, and control" contract with Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and serves member railroads.
History.
Two United States Department of Commerce initiatives are credited with the genesis of the HSGTC: the Northeast Corridor Transportation Project (1964) and the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965, which created the Office of High Speed Ground Transportation (OHSGT). OHSGT was absorbed by the FRA, part of the DOT, following that agency's creation in 1967. At the time, OHSGT, whose charter was to research and develop high speed rail transit, was investigating the use of magnetic or air cushion levitation of rail vehicles, but there were no suitable test sites. A proposed test site was investigated at the former Lowry Air Force Base near Denver, Colorado, but abandoned as the terrain was too rough; further site evaluation led the Secretary of Transportation to select the site for HSGTC near Pueblo in December 1969.
The Rail Dynamics Laboratory, the first building at the site, was designed by Wyle Laboratories in 1970 and construction began in July 1972, by Houston Construction/Wilkins Construction.
The (Rail) Transit Test Track (TTT) was dedicated on October 12, 1972, during a ceremony that also included the unveiling of the State-of-the-Art Car (SOAC); the principal speaker was United States Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe. Initially, just of the TTT were built in Fiscal Year 1971; the remaining were completed in September 1972 and checked on September 8 using locomotive DOTX 001 and two NYCTA R42 subway cars. In addition to SOAC testing, early tests conducted at HSGTC included the evaluation of the US Standard Light Rail Vehicle.
In March 2021, the FRA awarded a contract to ENSCO Inc, who are responsible for operations and maintenance of TTC. In addition, ENSCO will expand the use of TTC to support more general ground transportation research.
Facility.
The Transportation Technology Center occupies a site northeast of Pueblo, Colorado and just north of the US Army's Pueblo Chemical Depot. The site has laboratories and approximately of railroad track used to test locomotives, vehicles, track components, and signaling devices. The tracks are designed to replicate conditions seen on service environments, varying from precisely engineered high-speed tracks to track intentionally designed with irregularities.
In addition to the test tracks, there are several buildings at the site.