20 Things You Need To Know About Federal Railroad
The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology
The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for safety regulations for rail and enforcement, rail funding and research on improving rail strategies.
FRA field inspectors use discretion to decide which cases are worthy of the precise and time consuming civil penalty process. This discretion helps to ensure that the most serious violations are punished.
SMART-TD and its allies created history by 2024 when they convinced the FRA that two persons should be allowed to sit in the cabs of freight trains. The fight isn't over.
Safety
The Federal Railroad Administration has a variety of safety measures in place to ensure the health and safety of employees as well as the general public. It is responsible for creating and enforcing regulations for rail safety. It also oversees rail funding and conducts research on improvements to rail strategies and technologies. It also creates plans, implements and maintains a plan for maintaining current rail services and infrastructure. It also develops and improves the rail network across the nation. The department demands that all rail companies adhere to strict rules and empower their employees, and provide them with tools to be secure and productive. This includes taking part in the secure close call reporting system, establishing labor-management occupational health and safety committees, with full union participation and anti-retaliation protections and providing employees with needed personal safety equipment.
FRA inspectors are on the front lines of enforcement of rail safety regulations and laws. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and investigate complaints from hundreds of people. Civil penalties may be applied to those who break railroad safety laws. The agency's safety inspectors are able to decide on the extent to which an incident falls within the statutory definition of a criminal penalty-worthy act. The Office of Chief Counsel's safety division also reviews the reports that regional offices submit to ensure they are legal before assessing penalties. This discretion is exercised at the regional and field levels to ensure that civil penalties are only used when they are necessary.
A rail employee must be aware of rules and regulations that govern their actions and knowingly disregard those rules to commit a criminal offense that is punishable by a civil penalty. However the agency doesn't take any person who acts under a directive from a supervisor to have committed an intentional violation. The agency defines the "general railroad system of transportation" as the entire system over which goods and passengers travel within metropolitan areas or between them. The trackage of a plant railroad in a steelmill is not considered to be part of the overall rail transportation system, even though it is physically connected.
Regulation
The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible to establish regulations for train operations that pertain to safety and the transportation of hazardous substances. The agency manages rail finance, including loans and grants to improve service and infrastructure. The agency works with other DOT agencies and the industry to devise strategies to improve the nation's railroad system. This includes maintaining the current rail infrastructure and services, addressing the need for capacity expansion, expanding the network strategically, and coordinating the regional and national system planning and development.
While most of the agency's work focuses on freight transportation, it also manages passenger transportation. The agency is working to provide more options for passengers and connect people with the places they want to travel to. The agency is focused on improving the passenger experience and enhancing the safety of the current fleet, and ensuring the railway system continues to function efficiently.
Railroads must abide by a variety of federal regulations, including those pertaining to the size of crews on trains. This issue has become an issue of contention in recent years, with several states passing legislation to require two-person crews on trains. This final rule outlines the minimum crew size requirements at an international level, and ensures that all railroads are subject to the same safety standards.
fela lawsuit settlements requires each railroad that operates a single-person train crew to inform FRA of the operation and submit a risk assessment. This will allow FRA to assess the requirements of each operation to the standard two-person crew operation. Additionally, this rule changes the standard of review for a special approval petition from determining whether the operation is "consistent with railroad safety" to determining whether approving the operation is safe or safer than an operation with two crew members.
During the period of public comment for this rule, a large number of people expressed their support for a requirement of two persons on the crew. In a formal letter 29 people expressed their concerns that a single crewmember would not be capable of responding in a timely manner to train accidents or malfunctions at grade crossings, or assist emergency personnel on an elevated highway crossing. Commenters emphasized that human factors are the reason for a majority of railroad accidents. They believe that a larger team could ensure the security of the train and its cargo.
Technology
Freight and passenger rails employ different technologies to improve efficiency, increase security, and increase safety. Rail industry jargon includes many unique terms and acronyms. Some of the most well-known include machine vision systems (also known as drones) and rail-inspection systems that are instrumented, driverless train rolling data centers and unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as drones).
Technology isn't merely replacing jobs; it's helping people to do their job better and safer. Passenger railroads are using smartphones and contactless fare payment cards in order to boost ridership and improve the efficiency of the system. Other innovations like autonomous rail cars are moving closer to reality.
As part of its ongoing efforts to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable transportation for the nation The Federal Railroad Administration is focused on modernizing its rail infrastructure. This is a multi-billion-dollar effort that will see bridges and tunnels rebuilt as well as tracks and power systems upgraded and stations rebuilt or upgraded. The FRA's rail improvements program will be significantly increased by the recently approved bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The agency's Office of Research, Development and Technology is a key piece in this effort. The National Academies' recent review of the office concluded that it was successful in engaging, maintaining communications using inputs from a broad range of stakeholders. It still needs to be aware of how its research contributes towards the department's primary objective of ensuring the safety of goods and people by rail.
One area where the agency might be able to increase its effectiveness is by identifying and assisting the advancement of automated train technology and systems. The Association of American Railroads, the main freight rail industry business organization that is focused on research, policy, and standard setting and has created a Technical Advisory Group on Autonomous Train Operations to help develop industry standards for implementing the technology.
The FRA is interested in the group's development of a taxonomy to describe automated rail vehicles which defines clearly and consistently different levels of automation. This could be applicable to both rail transit and vehicles on the road. The agency will also need to know the level of risk to safety that the industry believes is associated when implementing a fully automated system and whether the industry is considering adding additional protections to minimize the risk.
Innovation
Railroads are embracing technology to improve worker safety and make business processes more efficient and help ensure that the freight it transports arrives at its destination safely. Examples of this innovations include the use of sensors and cameras to monitor freight, to new railcar designs that keep hazardous cargo safe during transport. Some of these technologies offer railroads the ability to dispatch emergency personnel to locations of accidents so they can quickly mitigate the damage and reduce the risk to property and people.
One of the most renowned innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC) which will prevent train-to-train collisions, situations where trains are on tracks that shouldn't be and other accidents that result from human mistakes. The system is a three-part system consisting of onboard locomotive systems that track the train and wayside networks that communicate with the locomotive and a massive backend server that collects and analyzes data.
Passenger railroads are also embracing technology to bolster safety and security. Amtrak is one example. It is experimenting with drones in order to help train security personnel locate passengers and other items in an emergency. The company is also exploring different ways to use drones, such as using drones to inspect bridges and other infrastructure for example, replacing the lighting on railway towers that could be dangerous for workers to climb.
Other technologies that could be utilized for passenger railroads include smart track technology, which is able to detect the presence of people or objects on the tracks and issue drivers with a warning if it's unsafe to proceed. These technologies are particularly useful in detecting crossings that are not authorized or other issues in the evenings when traffic is less and there are fewer witnesses to an accident.
Another significant technological advance in the rail industry is telematics, which allows shippers, railroads and other stakeholders to view the condition and status of a traincar through real-time tracking. Crews and railcar operators can benefit from greater accountability and visibility which can help them to improve efficiency and avoid unnecessary maintenance. It will also help delay in the delivery of freight.