Proceedings of the ASME/IEEE Joint Rail Conference April 6-8, 2004,Baltimore, Maryland. Printed compilation of 28 full-length,peer-reviewed technical papers presented at annual conference.Topics discussed include the following: Rail VehicleCrashworthiness;Improving, Designing and Restoring Traction PowerSystems; Vehicle/Track Interaction and Vehicle Dynamics;Improvements in Vehicle System Safety, Reliability and Efficiency;Improvements in System Efficiency, Quality and Costs UsingMicroprocessors, Computors and Software; Mechanical Passenger CarSystems; Improvements in System Safety and Efficiency UsingCommunications Equipment.