The Federal Railroad Administration

The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the DOT's 10 agencies concerned with intermodal transportation. Its mission is enabling the secure and reliable transportation of people and goods.

FRA field inspectors routinely inspect railroad tracks, signals and train control systems, as well as operating procedures. They also investigate complaints.

Definition

Federal railroads are rail transporters in the United States controlled by the federal government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, creates and enforces regulations governing railways, 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 chief executives are the Administrator as well as the Deputy Administrator.

The agency is responsible for all passenger and freight transport that is made possible by the railway network of the United States. The agency also coordinates the federal funding for rail transportation and supports the rehabilitation of 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.

FRA's responsibilities include establishing through regulation, after notification and comment an avenue through anyone can submit a report to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security problems or deficiencies. The agency also formulates guidelines, conducts inspections and reviews compliance with its rail laws in six technical disciplines, which include track signal, track, and train control; motive power and equipment; operating practices; hazmat and highway-rail grade intersections.

The agency is in charge of ensuring that the railroad transportation system is operated in a safe, economical, and environmentally friendly manner. The agency also requires that railroads to provide a safe working environment and provide adequate training to their employees. The agency also sets and enforces railroad prices to ensure that the public is billed fairly for transportation services.

Additionally the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces rules to stop discrimination against railroad workers, and protect whistleblowers from retaliation from railroad carriers. The agency also has an procedure through which railroad employees can make complaints regarding the company's actions.

The primary goal of the FRA is to ensure the secure, reliable, and efficient transportation of goods and people for a strong America today and into the future. The FRA accomplishes this through controlling rail safety, coordinating programs for assistance to railroads and conducting research to support improving safety in the railroad industry and national transportation policy, coordinating rail networking development and helping the private industry manage railroads. In the past, railroads were large monopolies with little competition. The railroad industry was able to abuse its dominant position in the market due to. Hence, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission and employers’ Liability act fela other regulatory agencies to limit the abuses committed by railroad monopolies.

Purpose

Federal railroads are government agencies that establish rules, regulate rail funds and conduct research to improve the rail system in the United States. It supervises 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 tasked with maintaining and expanding current railway systems, ensuring capacity of the rail industry to meet growing demand for freight and travel, as well as providing leadership in national and regional system planning.

The government's primary responsibility in the field of rail transportation is safety. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is in charge of this, and has several divisions that manage the country's freight and passenger railroad 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 signalling, 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 aimed to improve passenger and freight rail transport, such as the Northeast Corridor Future. This department is responsible for the grants given to railways and works with other agencies in order to determine the nation's rail requirements.

The FRA also has a duty to enforce federal laws that pertain to railroads and their workers. This includes preventing railroads from discriminating against employees, and making sure that all injured railway employees are transported to the nearest hospital for initial aid treatment. The fela law firm also prohibits railroads from delay or refuse medical treatment for injured railway employees.

The FRA is the primary regulator of the passenger and freight rail industries, however there are other agencies which manage the economic aspects of rail transport. The Surface Transportation Board, for instance is responsible for setting rates and managing the financial aspects of the industry. It is the regulatory authority for railroad mergers, line sales, construction, and abandonment. After the public consultation period, the agency is also responsible for establishing regulations that will allow anyone to report any alleged rail safety violations.

Functions

Rails transport people and goods from and to cities in the developed world as well as villages in countries that are less developed. They transport raw materials to processing and manufacturing plants, and finished products from these factories to warehouses and stores. Railroads are an essential mode of transportation for many vital commodities, including oil, coal and grains. In 2020, freight railroads transported more than a quarter of the freight volume in the United States [PDF].

The federal railroad is run as a business. It has departments for marketing, operations, sales, and an executive department. The department for marketing and sales talks with customers and potential clients to determine the services they need and what they need to 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 ensures that every department is operating efficiently.

The government provides support to railways in various ways from grants to subsidised rates for government-owned transport. Congress also provides money to support and build stations and tracks. These subsidies are often in addition to the revenues railroads receive from tickets and freight contracts.

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

The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) primary task is to formulate and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This involves regulating the mechanical condition of trains, as well as the health and safety of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on rail security to identify patterns and areas that require improvement or attention from regulators and to determine trends.

FRA also participates in other projects that improve the economy and safety of rail transportation in the United States. For instance, the agency is working to remove obstacles that could hinder 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 automatically when it is too close to another vehicle or object.

History

In the 1820s and 1830s, the first railroads in the United States were built, primarily in New England and Mid-Atlantic. Railroads helped speed up industrialization and brought more food to the market in these regions. This made the country more independent and less dependent on imports.

In the late 19th century the railroad industry enjoyed a "Golden Age" during which new, more efficient rail lines were built and passenger transportation became popular. This was in large part due to the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. For instance, the government provided land grants to homesteaders in order to encourage them to settle in the West. Central Pacific and federal employers liability Union Pacific Railroads also partnered to construct the first transcontinental railroad which allowed passengers to travel from New York City to San Francisco within six days.

In the first half century, however the demand for rail passenger services dwindled, while other modes of transportation like planes and automobiles became more popular. However, stifling regulations stifled railroads' economic ability to compete. A series of bankruptcies, service cuts, and deferred maintenance followed. Misguided federal rail regulations also contributed to the decline.

Around the year 1970 the federal government began to loosen the regulatory burdens 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 created, which sets rules for safety in rail and is one of the 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation that supervises passenger and freight transportation.

Since then, the railroad infrastructure of the United America has seen a great deal of investment. The Northeast Corridor has been rebuilt, for instance, to accommodate more efficient and modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT). The effort has also been made to develop more efficient freight rail systems. FRA hopes to continue working with all transportation agencies to ensure safe and reliable rails in the near future. The role of FRA is to ensure that the nation's transportation system operates as efficiently as is possible.