Five Killer Quora Answers On Federal Railroad

The Federal Railroad Administration

The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the DOT's 10 departments involved in intermodal transportation. Its goal is to facilitate the safe and reliable movement of goods and people.

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

Definition

A federal railroad is a type of rail transport in the United States that is controlled by the federal government. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) creates and enforces railway safety regulations, administers railway funding, and studies ways to improve rail transportation systems. The FRA is one of the 10 agencies within the U.S. Department of Transportation that are concerned with intermodal transportation, and its chief executive officers are the Administrator and Deputy Administrator.

The agency supervises all freight and passenger transportation that utilizes the nation's railway network. In addition, the agency also supports the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor rail passenger service and consolidates support from the federal government for rail transportation. The agency also regulates ownership and operation of intermodal facilities, like tracks, rights of way, equipment, real estate, and rolling stock. It also oversees federal rail transportation programs.

The FRA's duties include establishing, through regulation, following an opportunity for notice and comment the procedure by anyone can submit a report to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security issues or shortcomings. The agency also formulates policies, conducts inspections and assesses the compliance of its rail laws in six technical disciplines, which include track, signal, and train control locomotive power and equipment; operating procedures as well as hazmat and highway-rail grade intersections.

The agency is responsible of ensuring that the railroad transportation system is operated in a safe, economical and sustainable way. The agency also requires that railroads to provide a safe working environment 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 Railroad Administration also enacts and implements rules to prevent discrimination against railroad employees. They also shield whistleblowers from retaliation 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 FRA is to ensure safe, reliable and effective movement of goods and people for a strong America now and in future. The FRA achieves this by controlling safety of railroads, coordinating railroad assistance programs and conducting research that supports improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policies, coordinating and supporting rail networking development and assisting the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads controlled the market with no competition. In the end, railroads often misused their position in the marketplace. Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission, as along with other regulatory agencies to control the monopolies' exploitation of railroads.

Purpose

The federal railroad is a federal employers’ liability agency that sets regulations, manages rail funds and studies ways to improve the nation's rail transport system. It is responsible for the railroad infrastructure of the United States and manages passenger and freight railroads. It is one of ten agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also charged with maintaining and expanding existing rail systems, ensuring the ability of the rail industry to meet increasing travel and freight demands and providing leadership in national and regional system planning.

Security is the primary responsibility in rail transportation. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is responsible for this, and has several divisions that oversee the country's passenger and freight railroad operations. The largest of them is the Office of Railroad Safety, with around 350 safety inspectors and is responsible for conducting inspections to ensure compliance with the regulations in six technical disciplines including track signal and train control, motive power and equipment, operating procedures hazardous materials and highway-rail grade crossings.

FRA has several departments, including the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This oversees the programs designed to improve freight and passenger rail transportation, such as the Northeast Corridor Future. This department also is responsible for the grants that railways and collaborates with other agencies to develop plans for the nation's rail requirements.

The FRA also has a duty to enforce federal laws pertaining to railroads and workers. This includes preventing railroads from discriminate against workers and ensuring that railway workers injured are taken to the nearest hospital for treatment. It also prohibits railroads to deny or delay medical treatment for injured railway employees.

The FRA is the primary regulator of the rail passenger and freight industry, but other organizations manage the economic aspects of rail transportation. Surface Transportation Board is responsible for determining rates and governing economics in the industry. It has regulatory authority on railroad mergers, line-sales construction and abandonment. After an open consultation period the agency is accountable for establishing regulations that permit anyone to report any alleged safety issues with rail.

Functions

Railroads carry people and goods to and from cities in the developed nations, as also remote villages in less-developed countries. They transport raw materials to processing and manufacturing factories, and then the final products from these factories to warehouses and stores. Railroads are an essential mode of transportation for many essential commodities, including coal, oil, and grains. In 2020, freight railroads transported more than a quarter of the freight volume in the United America [PDF].

The federal railroad is managed like any other business. It has departments for marketing, operations, sale and an executive department. The marketing and sales department works with potential and existing customers as well as clients to determine what services they need and what they will cost. The operations department then develops rail services that meet these requirements at the cheapest cost to earn money for railroad. The executive department is responsible for the entire operation, ensuring that every department is operating efficiently.

The government supports the railways with a variety ways that include grants and subsidized rates for government traffic. Congress also offers funds to help build new stations and tracks. These subsidy funds are often added to the revenues that railroads receive through tickets and freight contracts.

Amtrak is owned by the United States government. It is a quasi-public, for-profit corporation with a significant stockholder that is the United States government.

A key function of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is developing and enforcing safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical condition of trains as well as the health and safety of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on security of rail lines to determine trends and areas that require improvement or regulatory attention and to determine trends.

FRA also participates in other projects to improve the safety and efficiency of rail transportation in the United States. For instance, FRA is working to remove obstacles that could delay railroads' introduction of positive train control systems (PTC). PTC is a safety technology that utilizes sensors and computers to stop a train automatically when it is too close to an 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 significantly accelerated the industrialization process in these areas, and also brought more food products to the market. This helped the country become more independent and less dependent on imports.

In the latter part of the 19th century, the railroad industry enjoyed a "Golden Age" in which new, more efficient rail lines were built and passenger travel became popular. This was largely because of the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. The government, for example, gave homesteaders land grants to encourage them to settle the West. Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads also collaborated to construct the first transcontinental railway, which allowed travelers to travel from New York City to San Francisco in just six days.

In the first half century however, the demand for rail passenger services dwindled, while other modes of transportation like planes and cars increased in popularity. In the meantime, the stifling of regulation stifled railroads' economic ability to compete. A series of bankruptcies, service cuts and deferred maintenance were the result. In addition, misguided railroad regulations from the federal government caused the demise of the industry.

In the year 1970 the federal government began to ease the regulatory burdens on railroads. The Surface Transportation Board was established to oversee economic aspects of the industry such as mergers and rates for railroads. The Federal Railroad Administration was also established to set rail safety regulations and is one of the 10 agencies within the U.S. Department of Transportation that oversees freight and passenger transportation.

Since then, the infrastructure of the railroads of the United States has seen a lot of investment. The Northeast Corridor fela federal employers liability act has been rebuilt, for instance, to accommodate faster and more modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT). There are also efforts to develop more efficient systems for freight rail. In the future, FRA hopes to continue its relationship with all transportation agencies in order to ensure reliable and safe railroads. The agency's role is to ensure that the nation's transport system is running as efficiently as it can.