The Federal Railroad Administration

The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the DOT's 10 agencies involved in intermodal transportation. Its mission is enabling the secure and efficient transportation of people and goods.

FRA field inspectors routinely inspect railroad track, signal and train control systems as and operating practices. They also investigate complaints.

Definition

A federal railroad is a railway in the United States that is controlled by the government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, develops and enforces regulations governing railways, administers railroad funds, and conducts research to improve the efficiency of rail transportation. The FRA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's intermodal transportation division, and its chief executives are the Administrator and the Deputy Administrator.

The agency is responsible for all freight and passenger transport that is made possible by the rail network of the United States. The agency also consolidates the federal funding for rail transportation and supports the rehabilitation of Northeast Corridor passenger service. The agency also regulates ownership and operation of intermodal facilities including tracks, right of way equipment, real estate, and rolling stock. It also coordinates federal rail transportation programs.

FRA's duties also include establishing through regulation, and after an opportunity to comment the procedure through which anyone can report to the Secretary Homeland Security any railroad security problems or deficiencies. In addition, the agency creates policies and conducts inspections to assess the compliance of its rail safety laws in six technical disciplines tracks, signal and train control, motive power and equipment, operating practices, hazmat, and highway-rail grade crossings.

The agency is charged with the responsibility to make sure the rail transportation system is safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly. As a result, the agency requires railroads to ensure the safety of their workers and provide appropriate training for their employees. Additionally, the agency establishes and enforces railroad rates to ensure that the public is receiving a fair rate for their transportation services.

Additionally, the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces regulations to prevent discrimination against railroad employees, as well as protects whistleblowers from being retaliated against by railroad companies. The agency also has an avenue for railroad employees to make complaints about the conduct of the company.

The agency's primary mission is to facilitate the safe reliable and efficient movement of people and goods to build a stronger America, now and in the future. The FRA accomplishes this by overseeing the regulation of rail safety, managing programs for assistance to railroads conducting research in support of improving safety in the railroad industry and national transportation policies and coordinating the development of rail networks and helping the private industry manage railroads. In the past, railroads were dominant in the market with no competition. The railroad industry took advantage of its dominant position in the market as a result. Therefore, Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission and other regulatory agencies to curb the abuses committed by railroad monopolies.

Purpose

Federal railroads are government agencies that set rules, regulate funds for rail and conduct research to improve rail transportation in the United States. It is responsible for the railroad infrastructure of the United States and manages freight and passenger railroads. It is one of 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also charged with maintaining and expanding current rail systems, as well as ensuring the capacity of the rail industry to meet increasing travel and freight demands and providing leadership in national and regional system planning.

The main responsibility of the federal government in the rail transportation industry is safety. The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for this. It has several divisions which oversee the country's freight and passenger rail operations. The Office of Railroad Safety is the largest of them with approximately 350 inspectors. It is responsible for conducting safety inspections across six technical disciplines, including track, signal, and train control equipment and motives operating procedures, hazmat and highway-rail grade crossings.

FRA has other departments, including the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This department is responsible for programs aimed to improve passenger and freight railway transport, including the Northeast Corridor Future. The department also is responsible for the grants that are made to railways and collaborates with other agencies to plan for the country's rail needs.

The FRA also has a duty to enforce federal laws related to railroads and their employees. This includes stopping railroads from using their power to discriminate against workers and making sure that all injured railway staff are transported to the nearest hospital to receive treatment. The law also prohibits railroads from denying or delaying medical care to injured railway employees.

The FRA is the primary regulator of the passenger and freight rail industries, however there are other agencies that manage the economic aspects of rail transportation. The Surface Transportation Board, for instance is responsible for setting rates and governing the economics of the industry. It has regulatory authority on railroad mergers, line-sales, construction, and abandonment. Other responsibilities include establishing rules after a public input opportunity and participation, where anyone can submit complaints about rail safety violations to the agency.

Functions

Rails transport people and goods from and to cities in developed countries as and villages in countries that are less developed. They transport raw materials to manufacturing and processing factories, and then the final products from those facilities to stores and warehouses. Rail is an essential mode of transportation for employers’ liability act fela Lawyer (Emplois.Fhpmco.Fr) a number of essential commodities, including grain, oil and coal. In 2020, freight rail carried more than a quarter of the country's total freight volume [PDF(PDF).

The federal railroad is managed just like other businesses. It has departments for marketing and operations, sale and an executive department. The department for marketing and sales collaborates with potential and current customers to determine what kind of rail services they need and the amount they should cost. The operations department then develops rail services that meet these needs at the cheapest cost to generate revenue for railroads. The executive department oversees the entire operation and makes sure that every department is operating efficiently.

The government offers support to railways in various ways, from grants to subsidized rates for shipping government traffic. Congress also provides funds to support and build stations and tracks. These subsidies are often a part of the revenue that railroads receive through ticket sales and freight contracts.

In the United States, the government is the owner of the passenger railway Amtrak. It is a quasi-public, for-profit corporation with a large stockholder that is the United States government.

A major function of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is developing and enforcing safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical state of trains and the safety and health of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on security of rail lines to identify patterns, areas that need improvement or attention from the regulatory side and to determine trends.

In addition to these core functions, FRA works on various other projects that aim to improve the economy and security of railroad transportation in the United States. For example, the agency seeks to eliminate obstacles that could delay railroads' introduction of positive train control systems (PTC). PTC is a safety system that makes use of sensors and computers on board to stop a train in the event that it is too close to another object or vehicle.

History

In the 1820s-1830s, the first railroads in America were built, mostly in New England and Mid-Atlantic. Railroads helped speed up industrialization and brought more food to markets in these regions. This allowed the country to become more independent and less dependent on imports from abroad, which contributed to a stronger economic base.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century the railroad industry went through an "Golden Age," during which many new, more efficient rail lines were built and passenger travel on train became more popular. This was in large part due to the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. For instance the government provided homesteaders land grants to encourage them to move to the West, and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads worked together to complete the first transcontinental railroad, which made it possible to travel from New York to San Francisco in just six days.

In the first half century however the demand for passenger rail services declined, and other modes of transport such as cars and planes gained in popularity. In the meantime, the stifling of regulation hindered railroads' ability to compete. A string of bankruptcies, service cuts, and deferred maintenance was the next step. Misguided federal rail regulations also contributed to the decline.

Around the year 1970, the federal authorities began to ease the regulatory restrictions on railroads. The Surface Transportation Board was established to oversee economic aspects of the industry such as mergers and rates for railroads. The Federal Railroad Administration was also established to set rules for safety in rail and is among the 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation which oversees passenger and freight transportation.

Since then, a significant amount of investment has been made in the nation's railway infrastructure. The Northeast Corridor, for example was rebuilt to accommodate more efficient, faster and modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) trains. There are also efforts to create more efficient freight rail. FRA hopes to continue to work with all transportation agencies to ensure safe and reliable rails in the future. The role of FRA is to ensure that the nation's transportation system runs as efficiently as it can.