The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology

The Federal Railroad Administration creates and enforces safety regulations for rail The Federal Railroad Administration also provides funding for rail and studies strategies for improving rail safety.

FRA field inspectors make use of discretion to decide which cases are worthy of the precise and time-consuming civil penalty process. This allows them to ensure that the most serious violations are punished.

Members of SMART-TD and their allies made history in 2024 by pushing the FRA to allow two people in the cabs of locomotives of freight trains. The fight isn't over.

Safety

The Federal Railroad Administration has a range of safety measures in place to safeguard the health and safety of employees and the public. It creates and enforces rail safety regulations, administers rail funding and researches strategies for improving rail and technologies. It also formulates and implements a plan to ensure that current rail services, infrastructure and capacity and strategically expands and federal employers liability improves the nation's rail network. The department requires that all rail operators adhere to strict guidelines and empower their employees, and provide them with tools to ensure their safety and success. This includes taking part in the secure close call reporting system, establishing labor-management occupational health and safety committees, with full participation from unions and anti-retaliation protections and providing employees with the necessary personal protective equipment.

Inspectors of the FRA are at the forefront of enforcing safety on rail laws and regulations. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and conduct a multitude of investigations of complaints of noncompliance. Those who violate the rail safety laws could be subject to civil penalties. Safety inspectors from the agency have a broad discretion to determine whether violations fall within the statutory definition of an act punishable with civil penalties. Additionally, the Office of Chief Counsel's safety department examines all reports submitted from regional offices to determine their legality before determining penalties. This discretion is exercised at both the regional and field levels to ensure that civil penalties are only applied in situations that warrant them.

A rail worker must be aware of rules and regulations that govern their actions and knowingly disregard those guidelines to commit a civil penalty-worthy offense. However the agency doesn't take any person who acts under a directive from a supervisor to have committed an intentional violation. The agency defines "general railroad system" as the entire network that transports passengers and goods between metropolitan areas and cities. The trackage of a plant railroad in the steel mill is not considered to be part of the overall rail transportation system, even though it's physically connected.

Regulation

The Federal Railroad Administration sets train regulations, including those pertaining to safety and movement of hazardous materials. The agency oversees rail finance, which includes grants and loan for service and infrastructure improvement. The agency collaborates with other DOT agencies as well as industry to devise strategies to improve the nation's rail system. This includes ensuring the current rail infrastructure and services, responding to the demands for new capacity and expanding the network strategically, and coordinating the regional and national system planning and development.

The agency is mostly responsible for freight transportation but also supervises passenger transportation. The agency aims to connect people to the places they'd like to visit and offer more choices for travel. The agency is focused on improving the experience for passengers, increasing the safety of the current fleet, and ensuring that the rail network is operating efficiently.

Railroads are required to comply with a range of federal regulations, which include those that deal with the size and composition of the train crews. This issue has become an issue of contention in recent years, with some states passing legislation that requires two-person crews on trains. This final rule codifies federally the minimum crew size requirements, making sure that all railroads adhere to the same safety standards.

This rule also requires each railroad that operates a single-person train crew to notify FRA of the operation and submit an assessment of risk. This will enable FRA to evaluate the characteristics of each operation with the standard two-person crew operation. This rule also alters the criteria for reviewing a special approval request from determining if an operation is "consistent" with railroad safety standards to determining whether the operation is as safe or more secure than a two-person crew operations.

During the period of public comment for this rule, a number of people expressed their support for a requirement for a two person crew. 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. Commenters emphasized that human factors are the reason for more than half of all railroad accidents. They believe that a larger team could ensure the safety of the train and its cargo.

Technology

Freight and passenger rails use a variety of technologies to increase efficiency, improve safety, and boost security. Rail industry jargon comprises many specific terms and acronyms. Some of the most prominent include machine vision systems (also known as drones) and rail-inspection systems that are instrumented, driverless train, rolling data centers, and unmanned aerial vehicle (also known as drones).

Technology isn't only able to replace certain jobs. It empowers people to perform their jobs more effectively and with greater security. Passenger railroads are using smartphones apps and contactless fare payment cards to improve ridership and make the system more efficient. Other developments, like autonomous rail vehicles, are moving closer to becoming reality.

The Federal Railroad Administration, as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable transportation in America, is focused on modernizing the rail infrastructure. This is a multi-billion dollar effort that will see bridges and tunnels repaired tracks, power systems and tracks upgraded, and stations reconstructed or replaced. FRA's recently passed bipartisan infrastructure law will dramatically grow the agency's rail improvement programs.

The agency's Office of Research, Development and Technology is a major element in this initiative. The National Academies' recent review of the office revealed that it excelled at engaging, maintaining communication with and using inputs from a broad range of stakeholders. But it must focus more on how its research aids in the department's main strategic goal of ensuring the safe movement of people and goods by rail.

The agency could improve its effectiveness by identifying and supporting automated train systems and technologies. The Association of American Railroads (AAR), the primary industry association for the freight rail industry that focuses on research and policy, as well as standard setting and has established a Technical Advisory Group for Autonomous Train Operations in order to help establish standards for the industry.

The FRA is interested in the group’s development of a taxonomy to describe automated rail vehicles which defines clearly and consistently the different levels of automation. This could be applicable to rail transit as well as vehicles on the road. The agency would like to know the amount of risk that the industry sees in fully automated operation, and whether the industry is considering any additional safeguards to reduce the risk.

Innovation

Railroads are embracing technology to increase worker safety, make business processes more efficient and help ensure that the cargo it transports arrives at its destination safely. Examples of this kind of innovations vary from the use cameras and sensors to keep track of freight, and to new railcar designs that keep hazardous cargo safe during transit. Some of these technologies offer railroads the ability to send emergency response personnel to locations of accidents so they can quickly mitigate the damage and reduce the risk to people and property.

One of the most renowned innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC) which will prevent train-to-train collisions, situations where trains are on tracks that shouldn't be and other accidents that result from human mistakes. This system is made up of three components: onboard locomotive systems which track the train; wayside networks which communicate with the locomotive and a massive server that analyzes and collects data.

Trains for passengers also adopt technology to improve safety and security. For instance, Amtrak is experimenting with the use of drones to aid security personnel in finding passengers and other items aboard trains in the event in an emergency. The company is also exploring other ways to use drones, including deploying drones to conduct inspections of bridges as well as other infrastructure, for example, replacing the lighting on railway towers that could be dangerous for workers to climb.

Smart track technology is a different technology that is used in passenger railroads. It is able to detect objects or people on tracks and alert drivers if it is unsafe to continue. These technologies are especially effective in detecting unsafe crossings or other issues during the evenings, when traffic is low and there are fewer witnesses to an accident.

Telematics is a significant technological breakthrough in the railway industry. It allows shippers, railways and other parties to monitor a traincar in real-time. Railcar operators and crews can benefit from increased accountability and transparency which will allow them to improve efficiency, avoid unnecessary maintenance and avoid delays when delivering freight.