14 Common Misconceptions About Federal Railroad
The Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the 10 DOT agencies that deal with intermodal transportation. Its purpose is to ensure safe and reliable transportation of people and goods.
FRA field inspectors inspect the railroad track signals, train control and track systems, as well as operating practices. They also investigate complaints.
Definition
Federal railroads are the rail carriers in the United States controlled by the federal government. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) establishes and enforces safety regulations, administers funds for railroads, and investigates ways to improve the efficiency of rail transportation systems. The FRA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's intermodal transportation division, and its chief executives are the Administrator and the Deputy Administrator.
The agency is responsible for all freight and passenger transport that is made possible by the railway system of the United States. The agency also consolidates government funding for rail transportation, and helps with the rehabilitation of Northeast Corridor passenger service. Moreover, the agency regulates the operation and ownership of all intermodal infrastructures such as tracks, right-of-way equipment and real property as well as rolling stock, and also provides the overall coordination of federal rail transportation programs.
The FRA's duties include establishing, through regulation, following an opportunity for notice and comment an avenue through which anyone can submit a report to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security issues or inconsistencies. Additionally, the FRA establishes policies and conducts inspections to assess the compliance with its rail safety regulations in six technical disciplines: track signals and train control, motive power and machinery, operating practices, hazmat and highway-rail grade crossings.
The agency is charged with the responsibility of making sure the railroad transportation system is safe, efficient and sustainable. As a result, the agency requires railroads to maintain the safety of their workers and provide appropriate training for their employees. The agency also sets and enforces railroad prices to ensure that the public is billed in a fair manner for transportation services.
In fela railroad settlements , the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces rules to stop discrimination against railroad workers, and also protects whistleblowers from being retaliated against by railroad companies. The agency also has procedures for railroad employees can make complaints about the actions of the company.
The main goal of the FRA is to ensure safe, reliable and efficient transportation of people and goods to ensure a secure America today and in the future. The FRA accomplishes this by regulating railroad safety, managing railroad assistance programs conducting research to help the improvement of safety for railroads and national rail transportation policies as well as coordinating and assisting with the development of a rail network and assisting the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads were huge monopolies with little competition. The railroad industry took advantage of its dominance in the market as a result. Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission, as well as other regulatory agencies to control the monopolies' exploitation of railroads.
Purpose
Federal railroads are government institutions that make regulations, manage rail funds and conduct research to improve rail transport in the United States. It supervises freight and passenger railroads and manages the nation's rail infrastructure. It is one of the 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also tasked with maintaining and expanding existing rail systems, as well as ensuring the ability of the rail industry to meet the growing travel and freight demands and providing leadership in regional and national system planning.
Safety is the main responsibility in the field of rail transportation. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is responsible for this, and it has several divisions that oversee the country's passenger and freight railway operations. The largest of them is the Office of Railroad Safety, with approximately 350 safety inspectors and is responsible for conducting inspections to ensure the compliance with regulations in six technical disciplines: track, signal and train control, motive power and equipment, operating procedures hazardous materials and highway-rail grade crossings.
FRA has several departments, including the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This department oversees programs that aim to improve passenger and freight railway transport, including the Northeast Corridor Future. The department also is responsible for grants that are made to railways and collaborates with other agencies in planning for the country's rail needs.
The FRA also has a duty to enforce federal laws pertaining to railroads and their workers. This includes preventing railroads from discriminating against employees and ensuring that injured railway workers are provided with transportation to the nearest hospital for initial aid treatment. Railroads are also prohibited from delay or refuse medical treatment for injured railway workers.
The FRA is the main regulator of the freight and passenger rail industry, but other organizations manage the economic aspects of rail transportation. Surface Transportation Board is responsible for establishing rates and managing the economics of the industry. It has regulatory authority over mergers in the railroad industry and line sales, construction and abandonment. Other responsibilities include the establishment of rules after opportunity for public input and participation, where anyone can submit complaints about rail safety violations to the agency.
Functions
Rails transport goods and people from and to cities in developed countries as also to villages in less developed countries. They transport raw materials to manufacturing and processing plants, and finished products from those factories to warehouses and stores. Rail is an essential mode of transportation for a number of essential commodities like grain, oil and coal. In 2020, freight railroads moved more than a quarter of all freight volumes in the United States [PDF(PDF).
The federal railroad is managed as a business. It has departments for marketing and operations, sales, and an executive department. The department of marketing and sales works with potential and existing customers as well as clients to determine what services they require and how much they should cost. The operations department then produces the rail services that satisfy those requirements at the lowest possible cost to earn money for the railroad. The executive department is responsible for the entire operation, ensuring that every department is running smoothly.
The government supports the railways with a variety methods such as grants and subsidised rates on government-owned traffic. Congress also offers funds to help build new track and stations. These subsidies are often in addition to the earnings the railroads earn from ticket sales and freight contracts.
Amtrak is owned by the United States government. It is a quasi public for-profit corporation, which has the United States Government as a major stockholder.
A major function of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is to develop and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical properties of trains, as well as the health and safety of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on security of rail lines to determine trends and areas that require improvement or attention from regulators and to determine trends.
In addition to these fundamental functions, FRA works on various other projects that aim to improve the security and economy of railroad transportation in the United States. For instance, the agency is working to eliminate obstacles that hinder railroads in adopting positive train control (PTC). PTC is a safety system that makes use of sensors and on-board computers to automatically stop the train when it gets too close to a vehicle or object.
History
The first railroads in the United States were built in the 1820s and 1830s, largely in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. The railroads accelerated industrialization and brought more food items to the market in these regions. This development allowed the country to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports from abroad, which resulted in a solid economic base.
In the latter part of the 19th century the railroad industry enjoyed the benefits of a "Golden Age" in which new, more efficient rail lines were built and passenger travel became popular. The government's efforts to expand the railroad system were an important aspect. For instance, the government gave homesteaders land grants to encourage them to settle in the West, and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads joined forces to construct the first transcontinental railroad which allowed travel from New York to San Francisco in just six days.
However in the early part of the 20th century, demand for railroad passenger services slowed and other modes of transportation such as cars and airplanes gained popularity, while the stifling of regulations choked railroads competitiveness economically. A series of bankruptcies, service cuts and deferred maintenance was the next step. The misguided federal rail regulations contributed to the decline.
In the year 1970 the federal government started to ease the regulatory shackles on railroads. Surface Transportation Board was created to oversee economic matters such as railroad rates and mergers. The Federal Railroad Administration was also established, which is responsible for establishing standards for rail safety and is one of the 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation that supervises passenger and freight transportation.
Since then, the infrastructure of the railroads of the United States has seen a significant amount of investment. The Northeast Corridor, for example was rebuilt to accommodate more efficient, faster and modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) trains. There have also been efforts to develop more efficient systems for freight rail. In the future, FRA hopes to continue its partnership with all transportation agencies to ensure the safety and reliability of railroads. FRA's mission is to ensure that the nation's transport system is running as efficiently as it can.