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The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology

The Federal Railroad Administration creates and enforces safety regulations for rail It also provides rail funding and studies strategies for improving rail safety.

FRA field inspectors make use of discretion to decide which cases warrant the exact and time-consuming civil penalty process. This discretion helps to ensure that the most serious violations are punished.

Allies and members of SMART-TD made history in 2024 by pushing the FRA to keep two people in the cabs of locomotives of freight trains. The fight isn't over.

Safety

The Federal Railroad Administration has a range of safety measures in place to safeguard the health and safety of its employees and the general public. It creates and enforces rail safety regulations and oversees the funding for rail. It also researches rail improvement strategies and new technologies. It also formulates and implements a strategy to ensure that current rail services, infrastructure and capacity and strategically expands and improves the nation's rail network. The department expects all rail employers to adhere to strict rules and regulations, empower their employees and provide them with tools needed to be successful and secure. This includes taking part in an anonymous close-call reporting system, establishing labor-management occupational safety and health committees, with full-union participation and antiretaliation provisions and giving employees the necessary personal protective gear.

FRA inspectors are on the front lines of enforcement of the rail safety regulations and laws. They perform routine inspections on equipment and investigate complaints from hundreds of people. Civil penalties can be imposed on those who violate the rail safety laws. Safety inspectors from the agency are able to decide on the extent to which an individual violation is in line with the legal definition of a crime that is punishable by civil penalties. The Office of Chief Counsel’s safety division also reviews all reports submitted by regional offices to ensure that they are legal prior to imposing penalties. This discretion is exercised at the field and regional levels to ensure that civil penalties are only used in situations that warrant them.

Rail employees must be aware of the rules and regulations that govern his or her actions and be aware of the standards to commit a civil penalty-worthy offense. However the agency does not consider anyone who is acting under a direction from a supervisor as having committed an intentional violation. The agency defines the "general railroad system of transportation" as the whole network that allows passengers and goods to travel within cities and metropolitan areas and between them. The trackage of a plant railroad within the steel mill is not considered to be part of the general rail transportation system, even though it's physically connected.

Regulation

The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for establishing regulations for trains including those related to safety and the transportation of dangerous substances. The agency oversees rail finance, including grants and loan for infrastructure and service improvement. The agency collaborates with other DOT agencies and industry to develop strategies for improving the nation's railway system. This includes maintaining the current rail infrastructure and services, addressing the needs for new capacity and expanding the network strategically, and coordinating national and regional system development and planning.

The agency is responsible for freight transportation but also oversees passenger transport. The agency is aiming to provide more options for passengers and connect people to the places they'd like to go. The agency is focused on enhancing the passenger experience, enhancing the safety of the current fleet, and ensuring the rail network is operating efficiently.

Railroads must comply with a variety of federal employers regulations, including those relating to the size and composition of crews on trains. In recent years the issue has become a source of controversy. Some states have passed legislation requiring two-person teams on trains. This final rule codifies the minimum size of crew requirements at a federal level, ensuring that all railroads are subject to consistent safety standards.

This also requires every railroad that has 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 those of a typical two-person crew operation. This rule also changes the review standard of a special approval request from determining whether an operation is "consistent" with railroad safety to determining if the operation is safer or less risky than a two-person crew operation.

During the time of public comment on this rule, a number of people voted for a requirement for two people on the crew. In a letter to the editor 29 people voiced their concern that a single crew member would not be in a position to respond as quickly to train accidents or malfunctions at grade crossings or assist emergency response personnel at the highway-rail level crossing. The commenters emphasized that human factors are responsible for more than half all railroad accidents and believe that a larger crew would help ensure the safety of the train and the cargo it transports.

Technology

Freight and passenger rails employ a variety of technologies to improve efficiency, improve security, and improve safety. Rail industry jargon covers various 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 trains, rolling data centers, and unmanned aerial vehicle (also called drones).

Technology isn't just replacing certain jobs, it's also empowering individuals to perform their work more effectively and safely. Passenger railroads are using smartphone apps and contactless fare payment cards in order to boost ridership and improve the efficiency of the system. Other innovations like autonomous rail cars are coming closer to reality.

As part of its ongoing efforts to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable transportation for the entire nation, the Federal Railroad Administration is focused on modernizing its rail infrastructure. This is a multi-billion dollars project that will see bridges and tunnels repaired as well as tracks and power systems upgraded, and stations reconstructed 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 central component of this initiative. The National Academies' recent review of the office revealed that it excelled in engaging, maintaining communication with and using inputs from a wide range of stakeholders. But it still needs to concentrate on how its research contributes to the department's primary strategic goal of ensuring the safe movement of people and goods by railway.

The agency could increase its effectiveness by identifying and supporting automated train systems and technology. The Association of American Railroads (AAR), the primary industry association for the freight rail industry that is focused on research and policy, as well as standard setting, established a Technical Advisory Group for Autonomous Train Operations in order to help create standards within the industry.

The FRA is interested in the group’s development of a taxonomy for 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 want to know the level of safety risk that the industry believes is associated when implementing a fully automated system and whether or not the industry is considering adding additional safeguards to mitigate that risk.

Innovation

Rail companies are adopting technology to enhance worker safety, increase efficiency in business processes and ensure that the cargo they transport arrives at its destination intact. These innovations include cameras and sensors that monitor freight to innovative railcar designs which keep hazardous cargo safe during transit. Some of these technologies provide a way for railroads to send emergency responders to locations of accidents so they can quickly mitigate the damage and reduce the risk to property and lives.

Positive Train Control (PTC) is one of the most important innovations in rail. It can prevent train-to-train accidents, situations where trains are on track they shouldn't, and other incidents caused by human error. It is a three-part system consisting of onboard locomotive systems that track the train, wayside networks that communicate with the locomotive, and a huge backend server that analyzes and collects data.

Trains for passengers are also adopting technology to improve security and safety. Amtrak for instance, is experimenting with drones to help security personnel on trains locate passengers and other items in an emergency. The company is also exploring other possibilities to utilize drones, including deploying drones to inspect bridges and other infrastructure, like replacing the lighting on railway towers, which could be dangerous for workers to climb.

Smart track technology is another technology that can be used in passenger railroads. It is able to detect people or objects on tracks and notify motorists that it is not safe to continue. These kinds of technology are especially beneficial in detecting unsafe crossings and other problems during times when traffic is at its lowest and there are fewer people to witness an accident.

Another important technological advancement in the rail industry is telematics, which enables railroads, shippers and other stakeholders to monitor the condition and status of a traincar by real-time tracking. Railcar operators and crews can benefit from greater accountability and visibility which can help them to improve efficiency as well as avoid unnecessary maintenance and reduce delays when delivering freight.