The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology
The
Federal Employers’ Railroad Administration creates and enforces rail safety regulations, provides rail funding and researches rail improvement strategies.
FRA field inspectors use discretion to decide which cases warrant the exact and time consuming civil penalty process. This helps ensure that the most serious violations are penalized.
Allies and members of SMART-TD have made history in 2024 by pushing the FRA to ensure that two people are in the cabs of locomotives of freight trains. The fight continues.
Safety
The Federal Railroad Administration has a variety of safety measures in place to protect the health and welfare of employees as well as the general public. It is responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for rail safety. It also manages the funding for rail and conducts research on improvements to rail strategies and technology. It also develops and implements a plan to ensure that current infrastructure, rail services and capacity and strategically expands and improves the national rail network. The department requires all rail employers to adhere to strict rules and regulations, empower their employees and provide them with tools to be successful and secure. This includes participation in the secure close call reporting system, setting up labor-management occupational health and safety committees with full union participation, as well as anti-retaliation safeguards, and providing employees with the necessary personal protection equipment.
Inspectors of the FRA are at the forefront of enforcing safety on rail regulations and laws. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and conduct hundreds of investigations of complaints of noncompliance. Civil penalties are handed out to those who violate railroad safety laws. Safety inspectors from the agency have a wide discretion to determine whether an act is within the legal definition of an offense that is punishable by civil penalties. The Office of Chief Counsel’s safety division also examines all reports submitted by regional offices to ensure they are legal prior to imposing penalties. The exercise of this discretion both at the regional and field levels ensures that the exacting, time-consuming civil penalty process is utilized only in cases which truly warrant the deterrent effect of a civil fine.
A rail worker must be aware of rules and regulations that govern his or her actions and be aware of the rules to be guilty of a civil penalty-worthy offence. The agency does not believe that a person who acts in response to a supervisor's direction has committed a willful offense. The agency defines the "general
fela claims railroad employees system of transportation" as the whole network that allows passengers and goods to travel within metropolitan and city areas and between them. The trackage of a plant railroad in the steelmill isn't considered to be part of the general rail transportation system, despite the fact that it is physically connected.
Regulation
The Federal Railroad Administration sets train regulations, ranging from those related to safety and movement of hazardous materials. The agency also manages financing for rail, including grants and loans for infrastructure and service improvements. The agency works with other DOT agencies and the industry to devise strategies to improve the nation's railway system. This includes ensuring the existing rail infrastructure and services, addressing the need for new capacity, expanding the network strategically and coordinating regional and national system's development and planning.
The agency is primarily responsible for freight transportation, but also oversees passenger transport. The agency is working to offer more options for passengers and connect people with the places they would like to go. The agency is focused primarily on improving the experience of passengers, enhancing safety of the existing fleet and ensuring the rail system continues to operate efficiently.
Railroads must comply with many federal regulations, including those pertaining to the size of the crews on trains. In recent years this issue has become controversial. Certain states have passed legislation mandating two-person crews in trains. This final rule establishes federally the minimum crew size requirements, making sure that all railroads adhere to the same safety standards.
This rule also 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 better identify the specific parameters of each operation and compare them to the parameters of a standard two-person crew operation. In addition this rule alters the criteria for reviewing a special approval petition from determining whether the operation is "consistent with railroad safety" to determining whether approving the operation would be as safe or safer than an operation with two crew members.
During the period of public comment on this rule, a number of people expressed their support for a requirement of two persons on the crew. In a form letter, 29 people expressed their concerns that a single member of the crew would not be able to respond in a timely manner to train malfunctions or incidents at grade crossings or assist emergency personnel on a highway-rail level crossing. Commenters noted that human factors are responsible for more than half all railroad accidents. They believe that a larger crew would ensure the security of the train as well as its cargo.
Technology
Railroads for passenger and freight use a wide array of technologies to increase efficiency, increase security, improve safety and more. The rail industry vernacular includes many distinct terms and acronyms but some of the most notable developments include machine vision systems, instrumentsed rail inspection systems, driverless trains, rolling data centers, and drones that are not piloted (commonly called drones).
Technology doesn't just replace some jobs. It allows people to perform their jobs more effectively and more safely. Railroads that transport passengers are using smartphones apps and contactless fare payment cards to improve ridership and improve the efficiency of the system. Other innovations, such as autonomous rail vehicles, are inching closer to becoming reality.
The Federal Railroad Administration, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve safe, reliable, and affordable transportation in the United States is focusing on modernizing the railway infrastructure. This is a multi-billion dollar initiative that will see bridges and tunnels repaired, tracks and power systems upgraded, and stations reconstructed or replaced. FRA's recently enacted bipartisan infrastructure law will substantially increase the agency's rail improvement programs.
The agency's Office of Research, Development and Technology is a major element in this initiative. Recent National Academies review of the office found it excelled at engaging with, maintaining communication and utilizing inputs from a range of stakeholders. But it still needs to focus more on how its research helps the department achieve its primary strategic goal of ensuring safe movement of people and goods via rail.
The agency could increase its effectiveness by identifying and implementing automated train systems and technologies. The Association of American Railroads, the freight rail industry's primary industry organization that focuses on research, policy, and standard setting, has established a Technical Advisory Group on Autonomous Train Operations to help develop industry standards to implement the technology.
The FRA is interested in the development of a taxonomy to describe automated rail vehicles, a system that defines clearly and consistently different levels of automation.