The Advanced Guide To Federal Railroad
The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology
The Federal Railroad Administration creates and enforces safety regulations for rail, provides rail funding and researches rail improvement strategies.
FRA inspectors on the ground use discretion to determine which cases are worthy of the time-consuming and precise civil penalty process. This discretion helps to ensure that the most serious violations are penalized.
SMART-TD, along with its allies, made history by 2024 when they convinced the FRA that two persons should be allowed to sit in the locomotive cabs of freight trains. The fight continues.
Safety
The Federal Railroad Administration implements a variety of safety measures to protect the health of employees as well as the public. It formulates and enforces rail safety regulations as well as manages funding for rail and researches strategies for improving rail and technology. It also develops, implements and maintains an action plan to maintain the current rail infrastructure and services. It also works to expand and improve the national rail network. The department requires that all rail employers adhere to strict rules and empower their employees, and provide them with the tools to be secure and productive. This includes participating in an anonymous close-call reporting system, creating labor-management occupational safety and health committees with full union participation and antiretaliation provisions and providing employees with the required personal protective gear.
Inspectors of the FRA are at the forefront of enforcing safety on rail regulations and laws. They conduct routine inspections on equipment and investigate complaints from hundreds of people. Those who violate rail safety laws may be punished with civil penalties. Safety inspectors from the agency have a broad discretion on whether an incident falls within the statutory description of a civil penalty-worthy act. In addition the Office of Chief Counsel's safety department reviews all reports received by regional offices for legal sufficiency before assessing penalties. This discretion is exercised at the regional and field levels to ensure that civil penalties are only used in cases that warrant their use.
To be considered guilty of a civil violation, a rail employee must be aware of the rules and regulations that govern his or her actions. They must also be aware of and disregard these standards. The agency does not believe that a person who acts in response to a supervisor's direction has committed a willful offence. The agency defines the "general railroad system of transportation" as the entire system over which goods and passengers travel within metropolitan and city areas and between them. The trackage of a plant railroad at a steel mill is not considered to be part of the general transportation system that trains, even being physically connected to it.
Regulation
The Federal Railroad Administration sets train regulations, including those related to safety and the movement of hazardous materials. The agency is responsible for managing railway finance, including loans and grants to improve service and infrastructure. The agency works with other DOT agencies and with industry to develop strategies to improve the nation's railway system. This includes maintaining current rail services and infrastructure, making sure that there is enough capacity strategically expanding the network as well as coordinating regional and national systems planning and development.
The agency is mostly responsible for freight transportation but also supervises passenger transportation. The agency is aiming to provide more options for passenger travel and connect passengers with the places they'd like to travel to. The agency is focused on improving the passenger experience, enhancing the safety of the current fleet, and making sure that the railway system continues to function efficiently.
Railroads must adhere to a number of federal regulations, relating to the size of crews on trains. This issue has become controversial in recent years, with several states passing legislation to require two-person crews on trains. This final rule codifies federally the minimum crew size requirements, ensuring that all railroads adhere to the same safety standards.
This rule also requires each railroad that operates a one-person train crew to inform FRA of the operation and submit a risk assessment. This will allow FRA to better identify the specifics of each operation and compare them to the parameters of a normal two-person crew operation. This rule also alters the criteria for reviewing an approval request that is a special case from determining whether an operation is "consistent" with railroad safety standards to determining whether the operation is as safe or more secure than a two-person crew operation.
During the time of public comment on this rule, a lot of people voted for a requirement of two persons on the crew. In a letter to the editor 29 people voiced their concern that a single member of the crew would not be able to respond with the speed required to respond to incidents or train malfunctions at grade crossings or assist emergency personnel on a highway-rail level crossing. The commenters noted that human factors are responsible for more than half of all railroad accidents and believe that a larger team could help ensure the safety of both the train and its cargo.
Technology
Freight and passenger railroads employ various technologies to improve efficiency, improve security, improve safety and more. The language used in the rail industry includes many specific terms and acronyms, however, some of the most notable innovations include machines-vision systems, instrumented rail inspection systems, driverless trains rolling data centers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly called drones).
Technology isn't just replacing certain jobs -- it's empowering people to perform their jobs better and safer. Passenger railroads are using smartphones apps and contactless fare payment cards to improve ridership and improve the efficiency of the system. Other developments like autonomous rail cars are moving closer to becoming reality.
The Federal Railroad Administration, as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure secure, reliable, and affordable transportation in the United States is focusing on modernizing the railway infrastructure. This is a multi-billion dollars project that will see bridges and tunnels restored, tracks and power systems upgraded, and stations rebuilt or upgraded. FRA's recently passed bipartisan infrastructure law will significantly expand the agency's rail improvements programs.
The agency's Office of Research, Development and Technology is a key component of this effort. The National Academies' recent review of the office revealed that it excelled in engaging, maintaining communication with inputs from a broad range of stakeholders. It must continue to focus on how its research contributes towards the department's primary goal of ensuring the safety of goods and people by railways.
The agency could increase its efficiency by identifying and implementing automated train systems and technologies. The Association of American Railroads, the main freight rail industry association that focuses on research, policy, and standard-setting the Technical Advisory Group on Autonomous Train Operations to help develop industry standards for implementing the technology.
The FRA is interested in the development of a taxonomy for automated rail vehicles which defines clearly and consistently different levels of automation. This could apply to both rail transit and vehicles on the road. The agency will also need to know the degree of risk to safety that the industry believes is associated when implementing a fully automated system and whether or not the industry is considering additional protections to minimize the risk.
Innovation
Railroads are adopting technology to increase worker safety and improve business processes. efficient, and ensure that the freight they move reaches its destination safely. Examples of this kind of innovation range from the use of sensors and cameras to keep track of freight, and to new railcar designs that keep dangerous cargo safe during transport. fela lawsuits of these technologies offer railroads the ability to send emergency responders to locations of accidents so they can swiftly mitigate damage and reduce the risk to property and people.
One of the most well-known innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC), which will inhibit train-to-train collisions, situations where trains are on tracks that shouldn't be, as well as other accidents resulting from human errors. This system is made up of three parts of onboard locomotive systems that track the train; wayside networks which communicate with the locomotive; and a massive server that gathers and analyzes data.
Railroads that transport passengers also use technology to improve safety and security. For instance, Amtrak is experimenting with the use of drones to aid security staff in locating passengers and other items aboard trains in case of an emergency. The company is also exploring other possibilities to utilize drones, such as using drones to conduct inspections of bridges and other infrastructure, for example, replacing the lights on railway towers, which can be hazardous for workers to climb.
Other technologies that can be used for passenger railroads include smart track technology that can detect the presence of people or objects on the tracks and send out an alert to drivers when it's unsafe to proceed. These technologies are especially effective in detecting unsafe crossings or other issues in the evenings, when traffic is low and there are less witnesses to an accident.
Telematics is another important technological advance in the rail industry. It allows railways, shippers and other stakeholders, to track a traincar in real-time. These capabilities give railcar owners and crews greater accountability and transparency and aid in improving efficiency, avoid unnecessary maintenance and avoid delays in the delivery of freight to customers.