The Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the 10 DOT agencies involved in intermodal transportation. Its purpose is to ensure the safe and secure movement of people and goods.
FRA field inspectors routinely inspect railroad track, signal and train control systems, as well as operating procedures. They also investigate complaints.
Definition
Federal railroads are rail carriers in the United States controlled by the federal government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, develops and enforces railway regulations, administers railroad funds, and conducts research to improve railway transportation. The FRA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's intermodal transportation division, and its top officers are the Administrator and the Deputy Administrator.
The agency is responsible for all freight and passenger transport that is made possible by the railway system of the United States. The agency also consolidates the federal funding for rail transportation, and helps with the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor passenger service. Moreover, the agency regulates the ownership and operation of all intermodal infrastructures such as tracks, right-of-way, equipment and real property as well as rolling stock, and also provides the overall coordination of federal rail transportation programs.
FRA's responsibilities also include establishing through regulation and following an opportunity for comment, a procedure by which anyone can report to the Secretary Homeland Security any railroad security issues or deficiencies. The agency also formulates policies, conducts inspections and assesses compliance with its railroad laws in six technical disciplines, which include track signals, track and train control as well as motive power and equipment; operating procedures hazardous materials and highway-rail grade intersections.
The agency is tasked with the responsibility to make sure the railroad transportation system is secure, economical and environmentally sustainable. The agency also requires that railroads maintain a safe work environment and provide adequate training for their employees. Furthermore, the agency sets and enforces railroad rates to ensure that the public is receiving an equitable price for their transportation services.
Additionally, the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces regulations to prevent discrimination against railroad employees and protect whistleblowers from retaliation from railroad carriers. The agency also has a complaint procedure for railroad employees to file complaints about the company's conduct.
The agency's main mission is to ensure the safe, reliable and efficient movement of goods and people for a stronger America today and in the future. The FRA achieves this by regulating railroad safety, managing programs for assistance to railroads, conducting research to support improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policies, coordinating and supporting the development of rail networks, and helping the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads controlled the market with little competition. This meant that railroads often misused their position in the market. Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission, as along with other regulatory agencies, to curb the monopolies' exploitation of railroads.
Purpose
The federal railroad is a federal agency that sets rules, oversees funds for rail and studies ways to improve the nation's rail transportation system. It oversees both freight and passenger railroads and manages the nation's rail infrastructure. It is one of 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also charged with maintaining and expanding the current railway systems, ensuring capability of the railroad industry to meet the growing travel and freight demands and providing leadership in national and regional system planning.
The government's primary responsibility in the field of rail transportation is safety. fela lawsuit settlements is responsible for this. It has several divisions which oversee the country's passenger and freight rail operations. The Office of Railroad Safety is the largest of them with a staff of around 350. It is responsible for conducting safety inspections in six technical disciplines, which include track, signal, and train control as well as motive and equipment, operating procedures, hazmat and highway-rail grade crosses.
FRA has various departments, including the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This department is responsible for programs aimed to improve passenger and freight rail transport, such as the Northeast Corridor Future. This department is responsible for granting grants for railways and collaborates with other agencies to plan the nation's railway requirements.
Another important function of the FRA is the enforcement of certain federal laws regarding railroads and their employees. This includes preventing railroads to discriminate against employees and ensuring that all injured railway staff are taken to the nearest hospital for treatment. Additionally, railroads are prohibited from denying or delaying medical treatment to injured railway workers.
The FRA is the main regulator of the rail passenger and freight industry, but other organizations oversee the economic aspects of rail transportation. The Surface Transportation Board, for instance, is in charge of setting rates and managing the economics of the industry. It is also the regulator for railroad mergers, line-sales construction and abandonment. Other responsibilities include establishing regulations after a public input opportunity, by which anyone may submit complaints about rail safety violations to the agency.
Functions
Railroads carry people and goods to and from cities in the developed countries as and remote villages in countries that are less developed. They transport raw materials to manufacturing and processing factories, and the finished products from those facilities to stores and warehouses. Rail is an essential mode of transportation for a number of essential commodities like grains, oil, and coal. In 2020, freight railroads moved more than a quarter of all freight volume in the United America [PDF(PDF).
The federal railroad is run as a business. It has departments for marketing and operations, sale, and an executive department. The marketing and sales department works with potential and current customers to determine what kind of rail services they need and the amount they should cost. The operations department then creates rail services that meet these needs at the cheapest cost to earn money for railroad. The executive department supervises the entire operation and makes sure that every department is operating efficiently.
The government offers support to the railways in a variety ways from grants to subsidised rates for shipping government traffic. Congress also provides money to build new tracks and stations. These subsidies are usually in addition to the revenues the railroads earn from ticket sales and freight contracts.
In the United States, the government owns the railway for passengers, Amtrak. It is a quasi-public for-profit corporation with a significant shareholder that is the United States government.
The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) primary function is to develop and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This involves regulating the mechanical condition of trains, as well as the safety and health of railroad employees. FRA also collects and analyzes data on rail safety to identify trends and areas that require more or better regulation.
In addition to these primary duties, FRA works on various other projects aimed at improving the security and economy of railroad transportation in the United States. For example, the agency seeks to eliminate obstacles that could hinder railroads' implementation of positive train control systems (PTC). PTC is a safety system that makes use of sensors and on-board computers to stop the train automatically when it is too close to another vehicle or other object.
History
The nation's first railroads were built in the 1820s and 1830s, largely in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Railroads helped speed up industrialization and brought more food items to market in these areas. This helped the country become more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports.
In the latter part of the 19th century the railroad industry enjoyed the benefits of a "Golden Age" that saw new, more efficient raillines were constructed and passenger travel became popular. This was largely because of the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. For instance, the government, gave homesteaders land grants to encourage them to settle the West. Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads also partnered to build the first transcontinental railroad which allowed passengers to travel from New York City to San Francisco within six days.
However in the first half of the 20th century, the demand for passenger railroad services declined and other modes of transportation such as airplanes and cars gained popularity, while stifling regulations choked railroads' ability to compete economically. A series of bankruptcies and service cuts and deferred maintenance were the result. The misguided federal rail regulations contributed to the decline.
Around 1970, the federal government began to loosen the regulatory burdens on railroads. Surface Transportation Board was created to oversee economic aspects like railroad rates and mergers. The Federal Railroad Administration was also created, which sets rules for safety in rail and is one of the 10 agencies of the U.S. Department of Transportation that supervises passenger and freight transportation.
Since then, a significant deal of investment has been made in the nation's railroad infrastructure. The Northeast Corridor has been rebuilt, for instance, to accommodate more efficient and modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT). There are also efforts to develop more efficient freight rail. In the future, FRA hopes to continue its collaboration with all transportation agencies to ensure safe and reliable railroads. It is the job of FRA to ensure that the nation's transportation system is as efficient as it can be.