Services
Our mature team brings years of experience from transit agencies, railroads, suppliers, government, financial institutions, and trade groups, including backgrounds in planning, design, engineering, business, market development, and quality. Our vast background and experience in the transit industry allows us to find, develop, and implement win-win solutions for all the stakeholders involved.
Featured Services
New Vehicle Procurements and Overhauls
RVB+A provides comprehensive support to agencies like Sound Transit (ST) in Seattle, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), and Metra in Chicago as they purchase new vehicles and rebuild their existing fleets. We assess available technologies, develop specifications, support competition and negotiations, manage the design process, oversee manufacturing, enforce quality standards, support commissioning, testing, operations, and maintenance and provide Buy America auditing.
Project Management Oversight (PMO)
RVB+A has continuously served in the Federal Transit Administration’s PMO Program for more than thirty years, supporting projects throughout the United States.
Engineering and Analysis
RVB+A provides sophisticated support for our public and private sector clients including AECOM supporting the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC) and Houston Metro. We provide Finite Element Modeling (FEM) and analysis using Ansys, timetable planning using OpenTrack, and other modeling including wheel/rail dynamic analysis using SIMPACK.
Alternative Energy Solutions
RVB+A supports clients to identify and implement practical alternative fuel technologies to meet project requirements while reducing impacts to the environment.
Engineering and Design Services
Conceptual Studies and Preliminary Engineering
- Development and Review of Technical Specifications
- Development and Review of Contract Documents
- Procurement of Services and Materials
- Design Reviews
- Development of conceptual/preliminary engineering design drawings and documents
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant designs
- Equipment 3D modeling
- Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
- Develop technical submittals/deliverables
- Draft production work instructions including welding procedures
- Design crash energy management systems
- Develop maintainability and reliability requirements
- Subject matter expert engineers by discipline (e.g. structural)
Final Detailed Engineering Design
- Develop final/detail drawings
- Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics Analyses
- Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
- Value engineering
- Develop technical submittals / deliverables
- Address review comments from concept/preliminary engineering submittals
- Final/detail production work process instructions including certified welding procedures
- Create soft core and hard core mock-ups (scaled and full-size)
- Industrial engineering
- Contract Deliverable Preparation
Systems Integration
- Rail Systems
- Positive Train Control (PTC)
- Vehicles (On-Board)
- Wayside
- Back Office
- Control Centers
- Asset Management
- Vehicle Health Monitoring
- Energy Storage Systems
Production Engineering
- Methods Engineering
- Six Sigma Process Control
- Proper Tooling
- Piece and Part Drawings
- Attachment Methods
- Production Standards
- Safety
- Testing
Industrial Design
- Exterior Design
- Interior Design
- Operator Cab Design
- Equipment Design
- Component Design
- Exterior Graphic Design
- Ergonomic Studies
Technical Writing
- Operator manuals, maintenance and installation guides
- User guides
- Technical reference manuals
- Process documentation:
- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Work flows and process integration
- Training materials
- Web-based documentation
- System design documents and assembly manuals
Technology Assessments
- Evaluation of new and emerging technologies
- Impact of new technologies
- Cost-benefit studies
- Public reviews
- Political impact and review
- Business and industry impact
- Transit Asset Management (TAM) Plan
Research and Development
- Feasibility Studies
- System Safety Assessments
- Emerging Technologies
- Post-COVID HVAC Air Filtration
- ADA Door Threshold Gap Analysis
- Cost-of-Ownership
Computer-Aided Drafting and Design (CADD)
- Conversion of image files into CAD
- Automated image to CAD files
- Create new drawing files from existing images
- Incorporation of review comments (e.g. as-builts)
- Updating drawings to conform with CAD standards
- Verify accuracy of drawings – scaling issues
Infrastructure and Systems
- Tracks
- Communications
- Signaling
- Maintenance Facilities / Yards
- Stations
- Wayside Energy Storage
Operations and Maintenance
- Facilities and Processes
- Simulations
- Energy Consumption
- Mileage-Based vs. Time-Based
Project Services
Printing and Scanning
2D
- Color scanning up to ‘E’ size
- Black and white printing on bond and Mylar in compliance with New York City Transit (NYCT) standard requirements
- Color printing up to ‘E’ size on a variety of mediums
3D
Size: 10 x 15 x 8 in
Resolution: 600 x 540 dpi
Colors: Full CMYK
Proposal Development
Complete Management from Request for Interest (RFI) to Notice to Proceed (NTP) including:
- Proposal Development
- Technical Writing
- Supplier Management
- Compliance Review
- Schedule Development
- Cover and Tab Design and Printing
- Design Renderings
Project Management
RVB+A offers the following Project Management services working for clients in the role of Project Management Oversight Contractor (PMOC) for Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Resident Engineer for the owner/agency, or Program & Project Management for major Rolling Stock Manufactures with direct management of major systems suppliers.
Project Management
- Engineering Estimates
- Budget Management
- Contract Management
- Document Control
- Asset Management
Contract Deliverable Review
Scheduling
- Develop and Update
- Review and Track Progress
Quality Assurance / Quality Control
- Document Review
- Onsite and Offsite Inspections
Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC)
Quality planning, inspection, testing and auditing for rolling stock and related infrastructure, including passenger rail vehicles, locomotives, buses, automated people movers, and all systems and equipment.
QA and QC Audits
- FTA Project Management Oversight
- Transit agency plans and procedures audits
- Project plans and procedures audits
- Compliance and performance audits
- Contractor and supplier qualification audits
Inspections and Testing
- On-site resident inspectors and testing staff
- American Welding Society Certified Welding Inspectors
- Inspection instructions, test procedures and acceptance criteria
- Liaison between customer, contractor and manufacturer
- Corrective/preventive actions management and implementation
- First Article Inspection (FAI)
- Qualification testing, e.g. structural testing
- Source, Receiving, In-process, Final preshipment inspection
- Routine (production) testing
- Commissioning and Acceptance testing, static and dynamic
Assessment and Analysis
- Standards compliance review
- Peer/industry benchmarks comparison
- Rolling stock fleet assessment
- Performance evaluation of Quality Programs
- Establish performance metrics and reporting systems
- Material Review Board disposition of nonconforming materials
- Standards Compliance Review
- Review of engineering production drawings, purchasing specifications, and QA/QC requirements
- Reliability and Maintainability
- Failure analysis
- Maintenance Facilities engineering and planning: capacity analysis, layout planning, and process flow analysis
Documentation
- Contract/Technical Specification quality requirements
- Develop/review quality manuals, plans and procedures
- Compliance with regulatory and contractual requirements
- Compliance with ISO/ANSI/ASQ 9001, AARM-1003, FTA QA/QC Guidelines
- Effective and efficient reporting of quality status, progress and problems
- Document control
- Quality records maintenance
- Vehicle manufacturing history books
U.S. Content Evaluation and Consulting
Buy America
- Pre-Award Audit
- Post Delivery Audit
- Certificates
- Compliance verification and monitoring
- Consultation
- Tutorials
- Workshops
Buy American
- Audits
- Certificates
- Compliance verification and monitoring
- Consultation
- Tutorials
- Workshops
Foreign Military Financing and Sales
- Domestic Content Evaluation
- Supply Chain and Manufacturing Consulting
- Tutorials
- Workshops
Safety and Security
Safety
- System Safety Program Plan
- Safety Certification
- Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Reporting
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Reporting
- Job Hazard Analysis
- Right to Know
- Bloodborne Pathogens
- Fall Protection
- Fire and Life Safety (FLS) Orientation
- Safety Committees
- Internal Safety Committee
- External Safety Committee
- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Emergency Planning
- Drills
- Hazard Resolution Program
- Analysis
- Preliminary Hazard Analysis
- System Hazard Analysis
- Sub-System Hazard Analysis
- Operational Hazard Analysis
- Fault Tree Analysis
- Failure Mode Analysis
- Safety Rules
- Training
- Plans and Procedures
Security
- System Security Plan
- Security Design
- Security Analysis
- Security Orientation
- Emergency Planning
- Drills
- Threat and Vulnerability Assessment
- Develop Levels of Protection
- Communication Protocols
- Access Control Management
- Implement Layers of Security
- Maintain Reporting
- Communications
- Analysis
- Training and Recertification
- Review & Revise Procedures
- Review & Revise Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Accident and Incident Investigations
Financial and Administrative
- Cost Estimates
- Life Cycle Cost
- Project Funding Alternatives
- Transit Asset Management
- Commercial Agreements
- Regulatory Compliance
- Market Studies
Contact
We look forward to hearing from you. Please use the contact form to ensure the best routing of your message. If you run into any difficulties, please email us at contact@rvba.com or call us at 703.326.9092.