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The Federal Railroad Administration

The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the 10 DOT agencies concerned with intermodal transportation. Its purpose is to ensure the safe and secure movement of goods and people.

FRA field inspectors regularly inspect railroad track, signal and train control systems, as well as operating procedures. They also investigate complaints.

Definition

A federal railroad is a rail carrier in the United States that is controlled by the government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, creates and enforces regulations governing railways as well as manages funds from railroads and conducts research to improve rail transportation. 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 uses the nation's railway network. The agency also consolidates government funding for rail transportation and supports the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor passenger service. In addition, the agency oversees the operation and ownership of all intermodal facilities, such as tracks, right-of-way, equipment and real property as well as rolling stock, and provides the overall coordination of federal rail transportation programs.

FRA's responsibilities include establishing through regulation, following an opportunity for notice and comment, a process by anyone can submit a report to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security issues or inconsistencies. The agency also establishes guidelines, conducts inspections and reviews the compliance of its rail laws in six different technical disciplines, including track signals, track and train control as well as motive power and equipment; operating procedures hazardous materials and highway-rail grade intersections.

The agency has the responsibility of ensuring that the railway transportation system is operating in a secure, efficient, and environmentally friendly way. The agency also requires that railroads to provide a safe working environment and provide adequate training for their employees. The agency also determines and enforces the cost of railroad services to ensure that the public is charged fair prices for transportation services.

The Federal fela railroad settlements Administration also enacts and implements rules to prevent discrimination against railroad employees. They also shield whistleblowers against retaliation from railroad carriers. The agency also has an procedure through which railroad employees can make complaints regarding the company's actions.

The main goal of the FRA is to ensure the safe, reliable and efficient transportation of people and goods for a strong America both now and in the future. The FRA accomplishes this by regulating rail safety, managing programs to assist railroads, conducting research in support of better safety of railroads and national transportation policy, coordinating rail networking development and assisting private companies manage railroads. In the past, railroads were dominant in the market with no competition. In the end, railroads often misused their position in the market. This is why Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission and other regulatory agencies to limit abuses by railroad monopolies.

Purpose

Federal railroads are government-owned agencies that set rules, regulate funds for rail and conduct research to improve rail transportation in the United America. It is responsible for both freight and passenger railroads, and also manages the nation's railway infrastructure. It is one of the 10 agencies of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also responsible for maintaining and expanding current railroad infrastructure.

Safety is the main responsibility in rail transportation. The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for this. It has a number of divisions that supervise the country's freight and passenger railroad operations. The most important of these is the Office of Railroad Safety, with about 350 safety inspectors. It is responsible for conducting inspections to ensure compliance with regulations in six technical disciplines: track signal and train control, motive power and equipment, operating procedures as well as hazmat and highway rail grade crossings.

FRA has various departments, including the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. It oversees programs that are meant to improve freight and passenger railway transportation, including the Northeast Corridor Future. This department is responsible for the grants given to railways, and collaborates with other agencies in order to determine the nation's rail requirements.

The FRA also has a responsibility to enforce federal laws pertaining to railroads and their workers. This includes preventing railroads from discriminating against workers, and making sure that all railway employees injured are provided with transportation to the nearest hospital for initial aid treatment. It also prohibits railroads from refusing or delaying medical care to injured railway employees.

The FRA is the primary regulator of the passenger and freight railway industries, but there are other organizations that manage the economic aspects of rail transport. Surface Transportation Board is responsible for determining rates and governing the economics of the industry. It also has the authority to regulate railroad mergers, line sales construction, and abandonment. After a period of public consultation, the agency is also accountable for establishing regulations that permit anyone to report any alleged rail safety violations.

Functions

Railroads transport people and goods between cities in developed countries as well as remote villages in countries that are less developed. They transport raw materials from processing and manufacturing facilities, and final products from these facilities to warehouses or stores. Railroads are an essential mode of transportation for many essential products, including coal, oil, and grains. In 2020, freight railroads moved more than a quarter of the freight volumes in the United States [PDF].

A federal railroad operates just like any other company, with departments for marketing, operations, sales and an executive department. The department for marketing and sales works with potential and current customers to determine the kind of rail services they need and how much they will cost. The operations department then develops rail services that meet these requirements at the cheapest cost to make money for railroads. The executive department oversees the entire operation, making sure each department is functioning efficiently.

The government provides support to railways with a variety means such as grants and subsidised rates for government-owned traffic. Congress also provides funds to support and build new tracks and stations. These subsidies are often a part of the revenues that railroads receive through ticket sales and freight contracts.

In the United States, the government has the passenger railway Amtrak. It is a quasi-public, for-profit corporation with a large stockholder that is the United States government.

The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) principal task is to formulate and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This involves regulating the mechanical condition of trains and the health and safety of railroad employees. FRA also collects and analyzes information on rail safety to identify trends and areas that require more or better regulatory attention.

FRA also works on other projects that improve the safety and efficiency 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 utilizes 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 helped the country to become more self-sufficient and less dependent upon imports from abroad, which resulted in a solid economic base.

In the late nineteenth century the railroad industry was experiencing a "Golden Age," during which many new railway lines that were more efficient were constructed and passenger travel via train became popular. The government's efforts to expand the railroad system was an important factor. For example the government provided homesteaders grants of land to encourage them to move to the West, and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads collaborated to build the first transcontinental railroad, which enabled travel from New York to San Francisco in just six days.

In the first half century, however the demand for passenger rail services declined, and other modes of transport such as cars and planes gained in popularity. In the meantime, the stifling of regulation hindered railroads' ability to compete. A string of bankruptcies, service cuts, and deferred maintenance was the next step. In addition, a misguided federal railway regulations led to the demise of the industry.

In 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 rates for railroads. The Federal Railroad Administration was also created, which sets standards for Federal employers’ Liability rail safety and is one of the 10 agencies within the U.S. Department of Transportation which oversees passenger and freight transportation.

Since then, a large amount of investment has been made in the country's railroad infrastructure. The Northeast Corridor has been rebuilt for instance, in order to accommodate more efficient and modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT). Efforts have also been made to improve the efficiency of freight rail systems. In the future, FRA hopes to continue its collaboration with all transportation agencies in order to ensure safe and reliable railroads. It is the responsibility of FRA to help make sure that the nation's transportation system operates as efficiently as it can.