Safety standards for high-speed rail transportation

As China, including Taiwan, moves into a new age of high-speed rail (HSR) transportation, it is essential that an infrastructure of safety organizations and regulations be established to ensure the safe operation of such systems when they are ready. Various organizations and safety standards that regulate safety of HSR operations in Europe, Japan, and the United States are described so that the government of China, as it moves into private and regional entities, can establish a regulatory structure to plan, develop, and monitor the safety of future HSR operations, regardless of the system built. Some operational experience and issues will be used to illustrate the problems associated with current practices in the United States.