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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 secure and reliable transportation of people and goods.

FRA field inspectors inspect the railroad track as well as train control and signal systems, as well as 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 government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, creates and enforces regulations governing railways and regulates funds for 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 top executives are the Administrator as well as the Deputy Administrator.

The agency supervises all freight and passenger transport that uses the nation's railway network. The agency also coordinates the federal funding for rail transportation, and helps with the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor passenger service. In addition, the agency oversees the management and ownership of all intermodal facilities, such as tracks, rights-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 the notice and comments are allowed the procedure by anyone can report to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security problems or shortcomings. In addition, the agency establishes policies and conducts inspections to determine the compliance of its rail safety regulations in six technical disciplines that include track signals and train control, motive power and machinery operating practices, hazmat and highway-rail grade crossings.

The agency is responsible of making sure that the railroad transportation system operates in a secure, efficient, and environmentally friendly manner. In turn, the agency requires railroads to ensure an environment that is safe for workers and provide adequate training for their employees. The agency also sets and enforces railroad prices to ensure that the public is billed fairly for transportation services.

Additionally to that, the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces rules to prevent discrimination against railroad employees, as well as protects whistleblowers from retaliation by railroad companies. The agency also has a complaint procedure for railroad employees to submit complaints regarding the conduct of their company.

The agency's primary mission is to ensure the secure efficient, reliable, and secure movement of goods and people for a strong America today and into the future. The FRA achieves this by controlling rail safety, coordinating programs to assist railroads conducting research in support of better safety of railroads and national transportation policy, coordinating rail networking development and helping the private industry manage railroads. In the past, railroads controlled the market with little competition. In the end, the industry often abused its position in the marketplace. Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission, as well as other regulatory agencies, to curb railroad monopolies' abuses.

Purpose

The federal railroad is a government agency that establishes regulations, manages rail funds and studies ways to improve the nation's rail transport system. It supervises freight and passenger railroads, and operates the nation's rail infrastructure. It is one of 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also responsible for maintaining and expanding the current railway systems, ensuring ability of the rail industry to meet growing demand for freight and travel as well as providing leadership in regional and national system planning.

Safety is the government's main responsibility when it comes to rail transportation. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is responsible for this, and has several divisions that oversee the country's freight and passenger railway operations. The largest of these is the Office of Railroad Safety, which has around 350 safety inspectors and is responsible for conducting inspections to ensure the compliance with regulations in six technical disciplines: track signal and train control, motive power and equipment, operating practices as well as hazmat and highway rail grade crossings.

FRA has several departments, such as the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This department oversees programs that aim to improve passenger and freight railway transport, including the Northeast Corridor Future. The department is also in charge of the grants that help railways, and it works with other agencies to develop plans for the country's rail needs.

Another important duty of the FRA is the enforcement of federal employers’ liability laws pertaining to railroads and their employees. This includes preventing railroads from discriminating against workers, and making sure that injured railway workers are transported to the nearest hospital for initial aid treatment. It also prohibits railroads to delay or deny medical treatment for injured railway workers.

The FRA is the primary regulator of the freight and passenger rail industries, but there are other organizations that manage the economic aspects of rail transportation. The Surface Transportation Board, for instance is responsible for setting rates and governing the financial aspects of the industry. It is the regulatory authority for railroad mergers, line-sales construction, and abandonment. After an open consultation period the agency is accountable for establishing regulations that allow anyone to file a complaint about any alleged safety issues with rail.

Functions

Railroads transport people and goods between cities in the developed countries as also remote villages in less-developed countries. They transport raw materials from processing and manufacturing facilities, and final goods from these facilities to stores or warehouses. Rail is an essential mode of transportation for a variety of essential commodities including grain, oil, and coal. In 2020, freight rail carried more than a quarter of the nation's total freight volumes [PDFThe PDF file contains.

The federal railroad is run like any other business. It has departments for marketing and operations, sale, and an executive department. The department of marketing and sales works with potential and current customers to determine the type of rail services they require and how much they will cost. The operations department then produces rail services that meet these requirements at the lowest price possible to generate revenue for railroads. The executive department supervises the entire operation, making sure every department is operating efficiently.

The government supports the railways in a variety ways, from grants to subsidized rates for government-owned transport. Congress also provides money to support and build stations and tracks. These subsidies are often a part of the money that railroads earn through ticket sales and freight contracts.

Amtrak is owned by the United States government. It is a quasi public for-profit corporation, which has the United States Government as a major stockholder.

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

In addition to these core functions, FRA works on various other projects aimed at improving the security and economy of railroad transportation in the United States. For instance, FRA seeks to lower the obstacles that can hinder railroads in the implementation of positive train control (PTC). PTC is a safety technology that uses sensors and computers to stop a train automatically when it is too close to an object or vehicle.

History

The nation's first railroads were constructed in the 1820s and 1830s, largely in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. The railroads accelerated industrialization and brought more food to market in these areas. This made the country more independent and less dependent on imports.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century the railroad industry was experiencing a "Golden Age," during which many new railway lines that were more efficient were built, and passenger travel by train became increasingly popular. This was largely because of the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. For instance, the government, gave land grants to homesteaders to encourage them to settle the West. Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads also collaborated to build the first transcontinental railroad, which allowed travelers to travel from New York City to San Francisco within six days.

However, in the first half of the 20th century, the demand for passenger railroad services decreased and other modes of transport like automobiles and planes gained in popularity, while the stifling of regulations hindered railroads competitiveness economically. A string of bankruptcies, delays in maintenance and service cuts were the result. Additionally, a misguided federal railway regulations contributed to the decline of the industry.

Around 1970, federal government began to loosen the regulations governing railroads. The Surface Transportation Board was established to oversee economic aspects of the industry, such as mergers and railroad rates. The Federal Railroad Administration, which oversees passenger and freight transportation and sets rail safety standards, was also created.

Since then, the railroad infrastructure of the United States has seen a lot of investment. The Northeast Corridor, for example, has been rebuilt 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 relationship with all transportation agencies in order to ensure reliable and safe railroads. FRA's mission is to ensure that the nation's transport system operates as efficiently as is possible.