The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology

The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for safety regulations for rail and enforcement, rail funding and research on improving rail strategies.

FRA field inspectors use discretion to determine which cases warrant the exact and lengthy civil penalty process. This discretion helps ensure that those violations most deserving of punishment are penalized.

Allies and members of SMART-TD have made history in 2024 by pushing the FRA to allow two people in the cabs of locomotives of freight trains. The fight continues.

Safety

The Federal Railroad Administration implements a number of safety measures to protect the health of its employees and public. It develops and enforces safety regulations for rail as well as manages funding for rail and researches rail improvement strategies and technologies. It also develops plans, implements and maintains an action plan to maintain the current infrastructure and services for rail. It also expands and improves strategically the national rail network. The department demands that all rail operators adhere to strict rules and empower their employees, and AccidentInjuryLawyers provide them with the tools to ensure their safety and success. This includes taking part in an anonymous close-call reporting system, setting up labor-management occupational safety and health committees with full union participation and antiretaliation provisions and providing employees with the needed personal protective gear.

Inspectors of the FRA are at the leading edge of enforcing rail safety laws and regulations. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and conduct a multitude of investigations of complaints of non-compliance. Anyone who violates rail safety laws may be penalized civilly. Safety inspectors from the agency have wide discretion to determine whether a violation falls under the legal definition of an offense that is punishable by civil penalties. Additionally, the Office of Chief Counsel's safety division reviews all reports received by regional offices to determine legal sufficiency before assessing penalties. This discretion is exercised at the field and regional levels to ensure that civil penalties are only applied when they are necessary.

Rail employees must be aware of rules and regulations that govern his actions and knowingly disregard those guidelines to commit a civil penalty-worthy offense. However the agency doesn't take any person who is acting under a direction by a supervisor as having committed a willful violation. The agency defines "general railroad system" as the entire system that transports passengers and goods between cities and metropolitan areas. The trackage of a plant railroad in a steel mill is not considered to be part of the overall transportation system that trains even being physically connected to it.

Regulation

The Federal Railroad Administration sets train regulations, ranging from those related to safety and the movement of hazardous materials. The agency manages rail finance, including grants and loan for service and infrastructure improvement. The agency collaborates with other DOT agencies as well as industry to devise strategies for improving the rail system of the United States. This includes ensuring the existing rail infrastructure and services, responding to the demands for capacity expansion and expanding the network strategically, and coordinating the national and regional system development and planning.

While the majority of the agency's activities are focused on freight transportation, it also handles passenger transportation. The agency aims to connect people with the places they'd like to visit and offer more choices for travel. The agency's primary focus is on enhancing the experience for passengers as well as enhancing the safety of its existing fleet and ensuring the rail network continues operating efficiently.

Railroads are required to abide with a range of federal regulations, including the ones pertaining to the size and composition of crews on trains. This is controversial in recent years, with a few states passing legislation to require two-person crews on trains. This final rule defines federally the minimum size of crew requirements, making sure that all railroads follow the same safety standards.

This also requires every railroad operating a one-person train crew to notify FRA of the operation and submit an assessment of risk. This will enable FRA to compare the parameters of each operation to the standard two-person crew operation. This rule also changes the criteria for reviewing a special approval request from determining whether an operation is "consistent" with railroad safety standards to determining whether the operation is safer or safer than two-person crew operations.

During the public comment period for AccidentInjuryLawyers this rule, a lot of people supported a two-person crew requirement. A form letter sent by 29 people expressed their concern that a single crew member would not be as quick to respond to issues with trains or grade crossing incidents or assist emergency response personnel at a highway-rail grade crossing. The commenters emphasized that human factors are responsible for more than half all railroad accidents and believe that a larger crew could help ensure the safety of both the train and the cargo it transports.

Technology

Trains for passenger and freight use different technologies to improve efficiency, improve security, and increase safety. Rail industry jargon comprises many distinct terms and acronyms. Some of the most notable include machine vision systems (also known as drones) instruments for rail-inspection systems driverless trains, rolling data centers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (also called drones).

Technology isn't just about replacing certain jobs. It allows people to do their jobs better and safer. Railroads that transport passengers are using smartphone 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 promote safe reliable, affordable, and cost-effective transportation in America is focusing on modernizing the railway infrastructure. This is a multi-billion dollars initiative that will see bridges and tunnels restored as well as tracks and power systems upgraded and stations rebuilt or upgraded. FRA's recently enacted bipartisan infrastructure law will dramatically increase the agency's rail improvement programs.

The Office of Research, Development and Technology of the agency is an essential component in this effort. The National Academies' recent review of the office concluded that it excelled in engaging, maintaining communications using inputs from a variety of stakeholders. It is still required to consider how its research contributes to the department's primary goal of ensuring the safety of people and goods via rail.

The agency could improve its effectiveness by identifying and supporting automated train systems and technology. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is the principal industry association for the freight rail industry, which is focused on research policy, standard-setting and policy created an Technical Advisory Group for Autonomous Train Operations to assist in helping establish standards for the industry.

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. This could apply to both rail transit and on-road vehicles. The agency will also need to know the degree of safety risk that the industry sees when implementing a fully automated system and whether or not the industry is considering additional protections to minimize the risk.

Innovation

Rail companies are adopting new technologies to enhance worker safety, increase efficiency in business processes and ensure that the freight they transport reaches its destination intact. Examples of such innovations include the use of sensors and cameras to monitor freight, to new railcar designs that help keep hazardous cargo safe during transport. Some of these technologies provide a way for railroads to send emergency response personnel to the scene of an accident so they can swiftly mitigate risks to property and people.

One of the most prominent innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC), which will inhibit train-to-train collisions, situations where trains are on tracks where they shouldn't be and other accidents that are caused by human errors. This system consists of three parts of onboard locomotive systems that track the train; wayside networks that communicate with the locomotive; and a huge server that collects and analyses data.

Trains for passengers are also adopting technology to enhance security and safety. Amtrak for instance, is experimenting with the use of drones to help train security staff locate passengers and other items in an emergency. Amtrak is also looking into ways to make use of drones. They could be used to check bridges and other infrastructure, or to replace the lights on railway towers, which are dangerous for workers to climb.

Other technologies that can be used for railways for passengers include smart track technology that can detect the presence of objects or people on the tracks and AccidentInjuryLawyers send out an alert to drivers when it's unsafe to travel. These technologies are especially useful in detecting crossings that are not authorized or other issues during the evenings when traffic is less and there are less witnesses to an accident.

Another significant technological advance in the rail industry is telematics, which allows railroads, shippers and other stakeholders to see the status and condition of a traincar through real-time tracking. Railcar operators and crews can benefit from increased accountability and visibility which will allow them to improve efficiency as well as avoid unnecessary maintenance and avoid delays when delivering freight.