The Federal Railroad Administration

The Federal Railroad Administration is among the 10 agencies of DOT that are responsible for intermodal transportation. Its purpose is to ensure the safe and secure movement of people and goods.

FRA field inspectors inspect the railroad track signals, train control and track systems as well operating practices. They also investigate complaints.

Definition

Federal Employers’ railroads are rail transporters in the United States controlled by the federal government. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) creates and enforces railway safety rules, oversees funds for railroads, and investigates ways to improve rail transportation systems. 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 passenger and freight transportation that is conducted through the nation's rail network. The agency also coordinates the federal funding for rail transportation and assists in the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor passenger service. In addition, the agency oversees the operation and ownership of all intermodal facilities such as tracks, right-of-way, equipment, real property and rolling stock. It also handles the overall coordination of federal rail transportation programs.

The FRA's responsibilities also include the establishment, through regulation and after an opportunity for comments, a procedure by which anyone can inform the Secretary of Homeland Security any railroad security problems or deficiencies. In addition, the agency establishes policies and conducts inspections to assess compliance with its rail safety regulations in six technical disciplines tracks, signal and train control, motive power and equipment operating practices, hazmat and highway-rail grade crossings.

The agency is in charge of ensuring that the railroad transportation system is operated in a safe, economical and sustainable manner. The agency also demands that railroads to maintain a safe workplace and provide adequate training for their employees. The agency also determines and enforces the cost of railroad services to ensure that the public is billed fair prices for transportation services.

Additionally to that, the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces rules to stop discrimination against railroad workers, as well as protects whistleblowers from being retaliated against by railroad carriers. The agency also establishes a procedure for railroad employees to make complaints regarding the conduct of their company.

The main goal of the agency is to facilitate the safe reliable and efficient transportation of goods and people for a strong America both now and in the future. The FRA achieves this by controlling safety of railroads, coordinating railroad assistance programs, conducting research to support improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policy and coordination, as well as supporting the development of a rail network as well as helping the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads were large monopolies that had no competition. The railroad industry was able to abuse its dominant position in the market due to. Therefore, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission and other regulatory agencies to prevent the abuses of railroad monopolies.

Purpose

The federal railroad is a government agency that establishes rules, oversees funds for rail and studies ways to improve the nation's rail transportation system. It manages the rail infrastructure of the United States and supervises passenger and freight railroads. It is one of 10 agencies within the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also responsible for maintaining and expanding the existing rail infrastructure.

The main responsibility of the federal government in the railway industry is safety. The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for this. It has a number of divisions that supervise the country's passenger and freight railroad operations. The largest of these is the Office of Railroad Safety, with around 350 safety inspectors and is responsible for conducting inspections that determine the compliance with regulations in six technical disciplines that include track signals, train control, motive power and equipment, operating procedures as well as hazmat and highway rail grade crossings.

FRA has other departments that include the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This department is responsible for programs aimed at enhancing passenger and freight railway transport, including the Northeast Corridor Future. The department is also in charge of the grants that are made to help railways, and it works with other agencies to develop plans for the country's rail needs.

The FRA also has a duty to enforce federal employers’ liability act laws related to railroads and their employees. This includes stopping railroads from discriminating against workers and ensuring that all railway employees injured are provided with transportation to the nearest hospital for first aid treatment. Additionally, railroads are prohibited from denying or delaying medical treatment to injured railway workers.

The FRA is the main regulator of the passenger and freight rail industries, however there are other agencies that manage the economic aspects of rail transport. Surface Transportation Board is responsible for setting rates and managing economics in the industry. It has regulatory authority over railroad mergers lines sales, construction and abandonment. Other responsibilities include the establishment of regulations after opportunity for public input that allows anyone to submit complaints about rail safety violations to the agency.

Functions

Railroads transport people and goods between cities in the developed nations, as well as remote villages in less-developed countries. They transport raw materials from processing and manufacturing facilities, and final products from these facilities to warehouses or stores. Rail is a vital form of transportation for a range of essential commodities including grains, oil and coal. In 2020, freight rail moved more than a quarter of the nation's total freight volume [PDF(PDF).

The federal railroad is managed just like other businesses. It has departments for marketing, sale, operations and an executive department. The department of marketing and sales collaborates with potential and current customers to determine the type of rail services they require and what those services should cost. The operations department then creates the rail services that meet those requirements at the lowest possible cost to earn money for the railroad. The executive department oversees the entire operation and makes sure that each department is running efficiently.

The government supports railways in various ways including grants, to subsidised rates for government-owned transport. Congress also offers funds to help build new track and stations. These subsidies are often a part of the money that railroads earn through tickets and freight contracts.

Amtrak is owned by the United States government. It is a quasi public for-profit company, with the United States Government as a major stockholder.

A key role of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is establishing and enforcing safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical properties of trains, as well as the health and safety of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on rail security to identify patterns areas that require improvement or attention from the regulatory side and to determine trends.

FRA also has other projects that improve the economy and safety of railway transportation in the United States. For example, the agency aims to reduce barriers that might hinder railroads' introduction of positive train control systems (PTC). PTC is an emergency safety system that utilizes sensors and computers on board to automatically stop the train when it gets too close to another vehicle or other object.

History

In the 1820s-1830s, the first railroads in the United States were built, primarily in New England and Mid-Atlantic. The railroads greatly accelerated industrialization in these regions, and also brought more food items to the market. This allowed the country become more independent and less dependent on imports.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the railroad industry experienced a "Golden Age," during which many new trains that were more efficient were built, and passenger travel by train became popular. This was largely because of the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. For example, the government gave homesteaders land grants to encourage them to settle in the West and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads collaborated to build the first transcontinental railroad which allowed travel from New York to San Francisco in just six days.

However in the early part of the 20th century, the demand for passenger railroad services declined and other transportation options like automobiles and planes gained in popularity, while regulations hampered railroads' ability to compete economically. The industry was plagued by a series of bankruptcies service cuts, bankruptcy, and deferred maintenance. The misguided federal rail regulations contributed to the decline.

Around 1970 the federal government started to ease the regulatory shackles on railroads. The Surface Transportation Board was established to oversee the economic aspects of the industry, such as mergers and railroad rates. The Federal Railroad Administration was also established, which is responsible for establishing rules for safety in rail and is one of the 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation which oversees passenger and freight transportation.

Since then, a large amount of money has been made in the country's railway infrastructure. The Northeast Corridor has been rebuilt for instance, in order to accommodate faster and more modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT). Efforts have also been made to improve the efficiency of freight rail systems. In the future, FRA hopes to continue its relationship with all transportation agencies in order to ensure the safety and reliability of railroads. The role of FRA is to ensure that the nation's transportation system is running as efficiently as it can.