The Federal Railroad Administration

The Federal Railroad Administration is among the 10 agencies of the DOT which are responsible for intermodal transportation. Its goal is to facilitate the safe and reliable movement of goods and people.

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

Definition

A federal railroad is a rail carrier in the United States that is controlled by the government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, formulates and enforces railway regulations as well as manages funds from railroads and conducts research to improve rail transportation. The FRA is one of 10 agencies within the U.S. Department of Transportation that is concerned with intermodal transportation, and its chief executive officers are the Administrator and Deputy Administrator.

The agency is responsible for all passenger and freight transport that is made possible by the rail network 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 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 comment an procedure that anyone can notify the Secretary Homeland Security any railroad security problems or issues. The agency also establishes guidelines, conducts inspections and evaluates compliance with its railroad laws in six technical disciplines, which include track, signal, and train control locomotive power and equipment; operating practices as well as hazmat and highway-rail grade intersections.

The agency is tasked with the responsibility of making sure the rail transportation system is secure, economical and sustainable. The agency also requires that railroads to maintain a safe workplace and provide adequate training for their employees. The agency also sets and enforces railroad prices to ensure that the public is charged in a fair manner for transportation services.

The federal employers’ liability act Railroad Administration also enacts and enforces rules to prevent discrimination towards railroad employees. The agency also safeguards whistleblowers from retaliation from railroad carriers. The agency also establishes a complaint procedure for railroad employees to submit complaints about the conduct of the company.

The agency's main mission is to ensure secure, reliable and efficient transportation of people and goods for a stronger America both now and in the future. The FRA accomplishes this by controlling rail safety, coordinating railroad assistance programmes, 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 controlled the market, with very little competition. As a result, the industry frequently abused its position in the marketplace. Hence, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission and other regulatory agencies to curb the abuses committed by railroad monopolies.

Purpose

The federal railroad is a federal agency that establishes regulations, manages funds for rail and researches ways to improve the nation's rail transportation system. It is responsible for both freight and passenger railroads, and also manages the nation's railway infrastructure. It is one of ten agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also responsible for maintaining and expanding the current railway infrastructure.

The government's primary responsibility in the rail transportation industry is safety. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is in charge of this, and has several divisions that manage the country's freight and passenger 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 across six technical disciplines, including track, signal, and train control equipment and motives operating procedures, hazmat and highway-rail grade crossings.

FRA has various departments, including the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This department oversees programs that aim at improving freight and passenger rail transport, such as the Northeast Corridor Future. This department is responsible for grants given to railways, and collaborates with other agencies to determine the nation's rail requirements.

Another essential duty of the FRA is the enforcement of certain federal laws pertaining to railroads and their employees. This includes stopping railroads from discriminating against workers, and making sure that all railway employees injured receive transportation to the nearest hospital for initial aid treatment. The law also prohibits railroads from refusing or delaying medical treatment for injured railway workers.

The FRA is the main regulator of the passenger and freight rail industries, but there are other organizations that manage the economic aspects of rail transport. The Surface Transportation Board, for example is responsible for setting rates and governing the economics of the sector. It is the regulatory authority for railroad mergers, line-sales construction, and abandonment. Other responsibilities include establishing regulations after opportunity for public input that allows anyone to report alleged rail safety violations to the agency.

Functions

Railroads transport goods and people to and from cities in the developed countries as well as remote villages in less-developed countries. They transport raw materials to processing and manufacturing factories, and then the final products from these facilities to stores and warehouses. Rail is a crucial mode of transportation for a variety of essential commodities like grain, oil and coal. In 2020, freight railroads transported more than a quarter of the freight in the United America [PDF].

Federal railroads operate like any other business with departments for marketing and operations, sales, and an executive department. The department for marketing and sales collaborates with potential and current customers to determine what kind of rail services they require and what those services should cost. The operations department then creates rail services that meet these requirements at the cheapest cost to earn money for railroad. The executive department oversees the entire operation and makes sure that each department is running efficiently.

The government supports the railways with a variety ways such as grants and subsidised rates on government-owned traffic. Congress also provides money to help build and maintain new tracks and stations. These subsidies are often added to 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 a huge stockholder, which 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 and the health and safety of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on security of rail lines to identify trends, areas that need improvement or attention from regulators and to track trends.

In addition to these core duties, FRA works on various other projects aimed at improving the security and economy of railroad transportation in the United States. For instance, FRA seeks to eliminate obstacles that could delay railroads' introduction of positive train control systems (PTC). PTC is a safety system that uses sensors and computers on board to automatically stop the train when it is too close to another vehicle or object.

History

The first railroads in the United States were built in the 1820s and 1830s largely in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. The railroads increased industrialization and brought more food items to the market in these regions. This allowed the country become more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports.

In the 19th century's final years the railroad industry experienced the benefits of a "Golden Age" in which new, more efficient raillines were built and passenger travel became popular. This was in large part due to the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. For example the government provided land grants to homesteaders 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 six days.

However, in the first half of the 20th century, demand for passenger railroad services declined and other transportation options like airplanes and cars gained popularity, while the stifling of regulations hampered railroads competitiveness economically. The industry was plagued by a series of bankruptcy as well as service cuts and delayed maintenance. Misguided federal rail regulations also contributed to the decline.

Around 1970 the federal government began to ease the regulatory burdens on railroads. Surface Transportation Board was created to oversee economic matters like railroad rates and mergers. The Federal Railroad Administration, which supervises freight and passenger transportation and sets safety standards for rail, was also created.

Since then, a significant 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). There have also been efforts to create more efficient freight rail. In the future, FRA hopes to continue its collaboration with all transportation agencies to ensure the safety and Federal employers Liability Act reliability of railroads. The role of FRA is to ensure that the nation's transportation system operates as efficiently as it can.