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The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology

The Federal Railroad Administration creates and enforces rail safety regulations It also provides rail funding and conducts research on strategies to improve rail infrastructure.

FRA field inspectors employ discretion to determine which cases merit the precise and lengthy civil penalty process. This discretion helps to ensure that the most serious violations are punished.

Members of SMART-TD and their allies made history in 2024 when they began pushing the FRA to keep two people in the locomotive cab of freight trains. The fight continues.

Safety

The federal employers Railroad Administration implements a number of safety measures to protect the health of employees and public. It is responsible for establishing and enforcing regulations for rail safety. It also administers rail funding, and conducts research on improvements to rail strategies and technologies. It also formulates and implements a strategy to maintain current rail services, infrastructure and capacity, and strategically expands and enhances the national rail network. The department requires all railroad employers to abide by strict rules and regulations, empower their workers and provide them with the tools to succeed and stay safe. This includes taking part in the confidential close-call reporting system, setting up occupational health and safety committees, with full union participation and anti-retaliation safeguards, and providing employees with the necessary personal protective equipment.

FRA inspectors are on the front lines of enforcement of railway safety laws and regulations. They conduct regular inspections of equipment and conduct a multitude of investigations into complaints of non-compliance. Civil penalties are handed out to those who violate rail safety laws. The safety inspectors of the agency have broad discretion over whether a particular violation meets the statutory definition of a civil penalty-worthy act. The Office of Chief Counsel's safety division also scrutinizes all reports submitted by regional offices to determine if they are legal before assessing penalties. This discretion is exercised both at the field and regional levels to ensure that civil penalties are only applied in cases that warrant their use.

A rail employee must be aware of rules and regulations that govern his actions, and not knowingly violate those rules to commit a civil penalty-worthy offense. The agency doesn't consider that a person who acts on a supervisor's directive has committed a willful offence. The agency defines "general railroad system" as the entire network that carries goods and passengers within and between cities and metropolitan areas. The trackage of a plant railroad in a steel mill is not considered part of the general rail system of transportation even being physically connected to it.

Regulation

The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for establishing regulations for trains that pertain to safety and the movement of hazardous substances. The agency also manages financing for rail including loans and grants for infrastructure and improvements to service. The agency works with other DOT agencies as well as industry to develop strategies to improve the nation's rail system. This work includes maintaining current rail infrastructure and services as well as in addition to addressing the need for additional capacity strategically expanding the network and coordinating regional and national systems planning and development.

The agency is mostly responsible for freight transport, but also manages passenger transportation. The agency is working to provide more options for passengers and connect people to the places they would like to go. The agency's primary focus is on improving the experience of passengers and enhancing the safety of the existing fleet and ensuring the rail system continues to operate efficiently.

Railroads must adhere to a number of federal regulations, relating to the size of crews on trains. This is controversial in recent years, with some states enacting legislation that requires two-person crews on trains. This final rule establishes federally the minimum crew size requirements, ensuring that all railroads adhere to the same safety standards.

This law also requires that each railroad that has a one-person crew notify FRA and submit a risk analysis. This will allow FRA to better identify the specifics of each operation and compare them to the normal two-person crew operation. In addition this rule will change the standard of review for the special approval petition from determining whether an operation is "consistent with railroad safety" to determining whether approving the operation would be as safer or more secure than an operation with two crew members.

During the public comment period for this rule, many people expressed support for the requirement of a two-person crew. In a formal letter 29 people voiced their concern that a single crewmember would not be able to respond with the speed required to respond to train malfunctions or incidents at grade crossings, or assist emergency response personnel at the highway-rail level crossing. The commenters emphasized that human factors account for more than half of all railroad accidents and they believe that a larger crew would help ensure the safety of the train and its cargo.

Technology

Freight and passenger rails use different technologies to increase efficiency, improve security, and improve safety. Rail industry jargon covers many specific terms and acronyms. Some of the most notable include machine vision systems (also known as drones) and rail-inspection systems that are instrumented, driverless train rolling data centers and unmanned aerial vehicle (also called drones).

Technology isn't just about replacing certain jobs. It allows people to perform their jobs more effectively and with greater security. Railroads that transport passengers use smartphones and contactless fare cards to increase passengership and boost the efficiency of their system. Other innovations, such as autonomous rail vehicles, are moving closer to becoming reality.

The Federal Railroad Administration, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve safe, reliable, and affordable transportation in America is focusing on modernizing the railway infrastructure. This multi-billion-dollar project will see bridges, tunnels tracks, power systems, and tracks updated, and stations renovated or replaced. The FRA's rail improvements program will be significantly expanded by the recently passed bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Office of Research, Development and Technology of the agency is a key part of this initiative. The most recent National Academies review of the office found it excelled at engaging in a continuous dialogue and utilizing the inputs from a range of stakeholders. It must continue to consider how its research contributes to the department's primary objective of ensuring the safety of people and goods via railways.

One area where the agency could be able to increase its effectiveness is in identifying and supporting the advancement of automated train technology and systems. The Association of American Railroads, the freight rail industry's primary association that focuses on research, policy and standard setting, has established a Technical Advisory Group on Autonomous Train Operations to help develop industry standards for the implementation of the technology.

The FRA is interested in the creation of a taxonomy for automated rail vehicles, a system that defines clearly and consistently the different levels of automation. This could apply to rail transit as well as on-road vehicles. The agency will want to know the degree of risk the industry is assessing with fully automated operation, and if the industry is considering any additional measures to mitigate that risk.

Innovation

Rail companies are adopting new technologies to improve worker safety, improve efficiency in business processes and ensure that the freight they transport arrives at its destination in good condition. Examples of this technological advancement include the use of sensors and cameras to monitor freight, to new railcar designs that keep dangerous cargo safe during transit. Some of these technologies offer railroads the ability to send emergency responders to the scene of an accident so they can swiftly mitigate risks to property and people.

Positive Train Control (PTC) is one of the most important innovations in rail. It will prevent train-to-train accidents, situations where trains are on track they shouldn't, and other incidents caused by human errors. This system consists of three components of onboard locomotive systems that track the train; wayside networks which communicate with the locomotive; and a massive server that collects and analyses data.

Railroads that transport passengers also use technology to increase security and safety. Amtrak is one example. It is testing the use of drones to help security personnel on trains find passengers and other items in the event of an emergency. The company is also exploring ways to use drones. They could be used to inspect bridges and other infrastructure, or to replace the lighting on railway towers, which are dangerous for workers to climb.

Smart track technology is another technology that can be utilized in railways for passengers. It is able to detect people or objects on tracks and notify motorists that it is not safe to continue. These technologies are especially effective in detecting unsafe crossings or other issues in the evenings when traffic is less and there are less witnesses to an accident.

Telematics is another important technological breakthrough in the rail industry. It allows railways, shippers and other parties to follow a traincar's progress in real-time. These capabilities provide railcar operators and their crews more accountability and Fela Railroad Accident Lawyer visibility and can help them improve efficiency, avoid unnecessary maintenance and reduce delays in delivering freight to customers.