9 Signs That You're A Federal Railroad Expert
The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology
The Federal Railroad Administration creates and enforces safety regulations for rail It also provides rail funding and studies strategies for improving rail safety.
FRA field inspectors employ discretion to decide on which cases merit the precise and time consuming civil penalty process. This discretion helps ensure that those violations most deserving of punishment are penalized.
SMART-TD members and allies made history in 2024 by pushing the FRA to ensure that two people are in the locomotive cab of freight trains. The fight continues.
Safety
The Federal Railroad Administration implements a number of safety measures to safeguard the health of its employees and public. It creates and enforces regulations for rail safety and oversees the funding for rail. It also studies strategies for improving rail infrastructure and new technologies. It also formulates and implements a plan to ensure that current rail services, infrastructure and capacity, and strategically expands and improves the national rail network. The department expects all rail employers to abide by strict rules and regulations, empower their workers and provide them with tools to be successful and secure. This includes taking part in the confidential close-call reporting system, setting up labor-management occupational safety and health committees that have full union participation and antiretaliation provisions and giving employees the necessary personal protective gear.
FRA inspectors are at the forefront of enforcement of the rail safety laws and regulations. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and conduct hundreds of investigations into complaints of noncompliance. Those who violate the safety rules for rail can be punished with civil penalties. Safety inspectors at the agency have wide discretion to determine whether an act is within the legal definition of an act that is punishable with civil penalties. Additionally the Office of Chief Counsel's safety department reviews all reports that are received by regional offices for legality before determining penalties. The exercise of this discretion at both the regional and field levels ensures that the time-consuming, costly civil penalty process is utilized only in situations that are truly deserving of the effect of a civil penalty.
fela lawsuit settlements must be aware of rules and regulations that govern his actions, and not knowingly violate those standards to commit a criminal offense that is punishable by a civil penalty. The agency doesn't consider that an individual who acts on a supervisor's directive has committed a willful offense. The agency defines "general railroad system" as the entire system that carries goods and passengers between cities and metropolitan areas. The trackage of a plant railroad within the steelmill isn't considered to be part of the general rail transportation system, despite the fact that it is physically connected.
Regulation
The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible to establish regulations for train operations, such as those relating to safety and the movement of hazardous substances. The agency manages rail finance, including loans and grants for infrastructure and service improvement. The agency works with other DOT agencies and industry to develop strategies for improving the nation's rail infrastructure. This includes maintaining the current rail infrastructure and services, addressing the needs for additional capacity and expanding the network strategically as well as coordinating the national and regional system development and planning.
The agency is primarily responsible for freight transportation but also supervises passenger transportation. The agency is working to offer more options for passenger travel and connect passengers with the places they would like to travel to. The agency's primary focus is on improving the experience of passengers as well as enhancing the safety of its existing fleet and ensuring the rail network continues operating efficiently.
Railroads must adhere to a number of federal regulations, relating to the size of the crews on trains. This issue has become controversial in recent years, with some states passing legislation to require two-person crews on trains. The final rule codifies the minimum requirements for crew size at the federal level, making sure that all railroads are subject to consistent safety standards.
This also requires every railroad operating a single-person train crew to inform FRA of the operation and submit a risk assessment. This will allow FRA to better understand the specifics of each operation and compare them to the parameters of a normal two-person crew operation. This rule also changes the review standard of an application for special approval to determine if an operation is "consistent" with railroad safety to determining if the operation is safer or more secure than a two-person crew operation.
During the public comment period on this rule, a large number of people backed the requirement for a two-person crew. In a letter to the editor 29 people expressed their concerns that a single crewmember is not in a position to respond with the speed required to respond to train accidents or malfunctions at grade crossings, or assist emergency personnel on an elevated highway crossing. Commenters emphasized that human factor are responsible for more than half all railroad accidents. They believe that a larger team would ensure the safety of the train and its cargo.
Technology
Trains for passenger and freight use a variety of technologies to improve efficiency, increase safety, and boost security. Rail industry jargon covers various distinct terms and acronyms. Some of the most prominent include machine vision systems (also known as drones) and rail-inspection systems that are instrumented driverless trains, rolling data centers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as drones).
Technology isn't just replacing certain jobs; it's helping individuals to perform their work more effectively and safely. Passenger railroads use smartphones apps and contactless fare cards to increase passengership and boost the efficiency of their system. Other innovations like autonomous rail cars are getting closer to becoming reality.
The Federal Railroad Administration, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve safe, reliable, and affordable transportation in the United States, is focused on modernizing the railway infrastructure. This multi-billion-dollar effort will see bridges, tunnels tracks, power systems and tracks updated and stations being rebuilt or replaced. The recently passed bipartisan infrastructure law will dramatically increase the agency's rail improvement programs.
The agency's Office of Research, Development and Technology is a key element in this effort. The National Academies' recent review of the office concluded that it was successful in engaging, maintaining communication with inputs from a wide range of stakeholders. It still needs to be aware of how its research contributes towards the department's primary objective of ensuring the safety of people and goods via railways.
The agency could increase its efficiency by identifying and implementing automated train systems and technologies. The Association of American Railroads, the freight rail industry's primary industry organization that focuses on policy, research and standard-setting the Technical Advisory Group on Autonomous Train Operations to help in developing industry standards for the implementation of the technology.
The FRA is interested in the group’s development of a taxonomy for automated rail vehicles, a system that defines clearly and consistently the different levels of automation. This could apply to rail transit as well as vehicles on the road. The agency will want to know the amount of risk that the industry sees in fully automated operation, as well as whether the industry is contemplating any additional safeguards to minimize that risk.
Innovation
Railroads are adopting technology to improve worker safety, make business processes more efficient and ensure that the cargo that they transport arrives at its destination intact. These innovations include cameras and sensors that monitor freight to innovative railcar designs that help keep dangerous cargo safe during transportation. 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 minimize risk to property and people.
One of the most prominent innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC), which will inhibit train-to-train collisions, situations where trains are on tracks that shouldn't be and other accidents that result from human errors. The system is a three-part system comprised of locomotives onboard that track the train and wayside networks that connect with the locomotive, and a massive backend server that collects and analyzes data.
Trains for passengers also adopt technology to increase safety and security. Amtrak for instance, is testing the use of drones to help train security staff locate passengers and other items in an emergency. Amtrak is also looking into ways to make use of drones. They could be used to examine bridges and other infrastructure, or to replace the lights on railway towers, which are dangerous for workers to climb.
Other technologies that can be used for railways for passengers include smart track technology that can detect the presence of people or objects on the tracks and issue a warning to drivers if it's unsafe to travel. These kinds of technologies can be particularly useful in detecting crossings that are not authorized as well as other issues that can arise during off-hours, when traffic is at its lowest and there are fewer people around to witness an accident.
Telematics is yet another significant technological breakthrough in the rail industry. It allows shippers, railways and other parties to follow a traincar's progress in real-time. Crews and railcar operators can benefit from greater accountability and visibility which will allow them to improve efficiency and avoid unnecessary maintenance. It will also help reduce delays when delivering freight.