5 Killer Quora Answers On Federal Railroad
The Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the 10 DOT agencies that deal with intermodal transportation. Its goal is to facilitate the secure and efficient transportation of people and goods.
FRA field inspectors inspect the railroad track signals, train control and track 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, manages funds for railroads, and investigates ways to improve the efficiency of rail transportation systems. The FRA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's intermodal transportation division, and its chief executives are the Administrator and the Deputy Administrator.
The agency supervises all passenger and freight transportation that utilizes the nation's railway network. The agency also coordinates government funding for rail transportation and supports the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor passenger service. 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.
FRA's responsibilities also include establishing, through regulation and after an opportunity for comments the procedure through which anyone can report to the Secretary Homeland Security any railroad security problems or deficiencies. The agency also develops policies, conducts inspections, and assesses compliance with its rail laws in six different technical disciplines, which include track signals, track and train control as well as motive power and equipment; operating procedures hazardous materials and highway-rail grade intersections.
The agency is in charge of ensuring that the railroad transportation system is operated in a safe, economical and sustainable way. The agency also demands that railroads to maintain a safe workplace and provide adequate training to their employees. The agency also sets and enforces railroad prices to ensure that the public is charged in a fair manner for transportation services.
Additionally the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces rules to prevent discrimination against railroad employees, and also protects whistleblowers from being retaliated against by railroad carriers. The agency also sets up a complaint procedure for railroad employees to make complaints about the company's conduct.
The primary goal of the FRA is to enable the secure efficient, reliable, and secure transportation of goods and people to ensure a secure America both now and in the future. The FRA accomplishes this through controlling safety of railroads, coordinating railroad assistance programs, conducting research to support improved railroad injury fela lawyer safety and national rail transportation policy, coordinating and supporting rail networking development as well as helping the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads controlled the market with no competition. The railroad industry took advantage of its dominant position in the market as a result. Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission, as well as other regulatory agencies to control railroad monopolies' abuses.
Purpose
The federal railroad is a government agency that makes regulations, manages rail funds and researches ways to improve the nation's rail transportation system. It oversees both freight and passenger railroads, and also manages the nation's railway infrastructure. It is one of 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also responsible for maintaining and expanding current rail systems.
The main responsibility of the federal government in the rail transportation industry is safety. The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for this. It has several divisions which oversee the country's passenger and freight rail operations. The Office of Railroad Safety is the largest with approximately 350 inspectors. It is responsible for conducting safety inspections across six technical disciplines, which include track, signal, and train control equipment and motives operating procedures, hazmat and highway-rail grade crossings.
FRA has additional departments which include the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This department oversees programs that aim to improve passenger and freight rail transportation, like the Northeast Corridor Future. The department also is responsible for grants that are made to help railways, and it collaborates with other agencies to develop plans for the nation's rail requirements.
Another important function of the FRA is the enforcement of federal laws pertaining to railroads and their employees. This includes preventing railroads from discriminate against employees and making sure that injured railway employees are taken to the nearest hospital to receive treatment. It also prohibits railroads from refusing or delaying medical treatment for injured railway workers.
The FRA is the main regulator for the freight and passenger rail industry, however other agencies manage the economic aspects of rail transportation. Surface Transportation Board is responsible for establishing rates and managing economics in the industry. It has regulatory authority on railroad mergers, line-sales construction, and abandonment. Other responsibilities include establishing a process through regulations, after opportunity for public input, by which anyone may report alleged rail safety violations to the agency.
Functions
Railroads transport goods and people to and from cities in developed nations 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. Railroads are a vital mode of transportation for many essential products, including oil, coal and grains. In 2020, freight rail transported more than a quarter of the country's total freight volume [PDF(PDF).
A federal railroad operates as a business just like other businesses with departments for marketing and operations, sales and an executive department. The department of marketing and sales works with potential and current customers to determine what kind of rail services they need and the amount they should cost. The operations department then develops the rail services that meet these requirements at the cheapest cost to earn money for the railroad. The executive department supervises the entire operation and ensures that every department is operating efficiently.
The government provides support to railways through a variety of means, including grants and subsidized rates on government traffic. Congress also provides funds to help build new stations and tracks. These subsidies are often a part of the revenues that railroads receive through tickets and freight contracts.
In the United States, the government is the owner of the passenger railway Amtrak. It is a quasi public for-profit corporation, which has the United States Government as a major stockholder.
A major purpose of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is to develop and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical state of trains and the health and safety of railroad employees. FRA also gathers and analyzes data on rail safety in order to identify patterns and areas that might require improvement or more regulatory attention.
FRA also participates in other projects that improve the economy and safety of rail transportation in the United States. For instance, FRA aims to reduce barriers that could delay railroads' implementation 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 object or vehicle.
History
The first railroads in the United States were built in the 1820s and 1830s mostly in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. The railroads accelerated industrialization and brought more food products to market in these areas. This development allowed the country to become more independent and less dependent on imports from abroad, which in turn resulted in a solid economic base.
In the late nineteenth century the railroad industry went through a "Golden Age," during which many new, more efficient rail lines were constructed and passenger travel via train became increasingly popular. The government's efforts in expanding the railroad system were an important aspect. For instance the government offered homesteaders land grants to encourage them to move to the West and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads worked together to complete the first transcontinental railroad, which allowed travel from New York to San Francisco in six days.
In the first half century, however, the demand for rail passenger services declined, and other modes of transportation like planes and automobiles gained in popularity. Meanwhile, stifling regulation made it difficult for railroads to compete. A string of bankruptcies, delays in maintenance and service cuts was the next step. The misguided federal rail regulations 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 railroad rates and mergers. The Federal Railroad Administration was also established, which is responsible for establishing rail safety regulations and is one of 10 agencies of the U.S. Department of Transportation which oversees passenger and freight transportation.
Since then, the railroad infrastructure of the United States has seen a significant amount of investment. The Northeast Corridor, for example has been renovated to accommodate more efficient, faster and modern high speed ground transportation (HSGT) trains. The effort has also been made to develop more efficient freight rail systems. In the future, FRA hopes to continue its partnership with all transportation agencies in order to ensure reliable and safe railroads. FRA's mission is to ensure that the nation's transportation system operates as efficiently as it can.