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The Federal Railroad Administration

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

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

Definition

A federal railroad is a railway in the United States that is controlled by the federal government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, formulates and enforces railway regulations and regulates funds for railroads, and conducts research to improve rail transportation. The FRA is one of 10 agencies of 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 transport that is conducted through the nation's rail network. The agency also consolidates the funding provided by the federal government for rail transportation and assists in 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 also provides the overall coordination of federal rail transportation programs.

The FRA's duties include establishing, through regulation, following an opportunity for notice and federal Employers’ liability act comment, a process by which any person may submit a report to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security issues or deficiencies. The agency also establishes policies, conducts inspections, and evaluates the compliance with its rail laws in six 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 tasked with the responsibility of making sure the railroad transportation system is safe, economical and sustainable. As a result, the agency requires railroads to maintain an environment that is safe for workers and provide appropriate training for their employees. The agency also sets and enforces railroad prices to ensure that the public is billed in a fair manner for transportation services.

In addition to that, the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces regulations to prevent discrimination against railroad employees, and protect whistleblowers from retaliation from railroad carriers. The agency also sets up an avenue for railroad employees to make complaints regarding the conduct of their company.

The primary goal of the agency is to ensure the secure, reliable and efficient transportation of people and goods to ensure a secure America today and in the future. The FRA accomplishes this through regulating railroad safety, managing programs for assistance to railroads and conducting research that supports improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policy, coordinating and supporting the development of rail networks and assisting the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads were huge monopolies that had no competition. As a result, the industry frequently abused its position in the marketplace. Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission, as along with other regulatory agencies, to limit railroad monopolies' abuses.

Purpose

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

Security is the primary responsibility in the field of rail transportation. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is in charge of this, and it has several divisions that manage the country's passenger and freight rail operations. The most important of these is the Office of Railroad Safety, which is home to around 350 safety inspectors and is responsible for conducting inspections that determine compliance with the regulations in six technical disciplines that include track, signal and train control, motive power and equipment, operating practices hazardous materials and highway-rail grade crossings.

FRA has additional departments which include the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. This department is responsible for programs aimed at improving freight and passenger rail transport, such as the Northeast Corridor Future. This department is also responsible for grants that are given to railways and works with other agencies to develop plans for the nation's rail needs.

The FRA also has a duty to enforce federal laws that pertain to railroads and their workers. This includes preventing railroads to discriminate against employees and making sure that all injured railway staff are taken to the nearest hospital to receive treatment. The law also prohibits railroads from refusing or delaying medical treatment to injured railway workers.

The FRA is the main regulator of the passenger and freight rail industry, but other organizations manage the economic aspects of rail transportation. The Surface Transportation Board, for example is responsible for setting rates and managing the economics of the industry. It has regulatory authority over mergers in the railroad industry, line sales construction and abandonment. Other responsibilities include establishing rules after opportunity for public input that allows anyone to submit complaints about rail safety violations to the agency.

Functions

Railroads carry people and goods between cities in developed nations as and remote villages in less-developed countries. They transport raw materials to manufacturing and Fela processing factories, and then the final products from those facilities to warehouses and stores. Railroads are an essential mode of transportation for a variety of essential commodities, including coal, oil, and grains. In 2020, freight rail moved more than a quarter of country's total freight volume [PDFThe PDF file contains.

The federal railroad is managed like any other business. It has departments for marketing, operations, sale, and an executive department. The department for marketing and sales consults with customers and potential clients to determine the services they require and how much they should cost. The operations department then develops rail services that meet these requirements at the lowest price possible to generate revenue for railroads. The executive department is responsible for the entire operation, making sure every department is operating efficiently.

The government supports the railways by a variety of methods, including grants and subsidized rates on government-owned traffic. Congress also offers funds to help construct new tracks and stations. These subsidies are often a part of the revenue 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.

The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) main task is to formulate and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical condition of trains and the safety and health of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on security of rail lines to identify trends and areas that require improvement or regulatory attention and to determine trends.

In addition to these primary functions, FRA works on various other projects related to improving the security and economy of railway transportation in the United States. For instance, FRA is working to remove obstacles that could delay railroads' implementation of positive train control systems (PTC). PTC is a security technology that uses sensors and computers on board to stop a train in the event that it is too close to another object or vehicle.

History

The first railroads in the United States were built in the 1820s and 1830s largely in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Railroads helped speed up industrialization and brought more food items to the market in these regions. This development allowed the country to become more independent and less dependent on foreign imports, which resulted in a solid economic base.

In the 19th century's final years the railroad industry enjoyed an "Golden Age" in which new, more efficient rail lines were built and passenger transportation became popular. The government's efforts to expand the railroad system was an important factor. For example the government provided land grants to homesteaders to encourage them to settle in the West and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads joined forces to construct 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 transport such as cars and planes gained in popularity. Meanwhile, stifling regulation hindered railroads' ability to compete. A series of bankruptcies and service cuts and deferred maintenance were the result. Uninformed federal rail regulations also contributed to the decline.

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

Since then, a great amount of money has been made in the country's railway infrastructure. The Northeast Corridor has been rebuilt, for instance, to accommodate more efficient and modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT). The effort has also been made to create more efficient freight rail systems. FRA hopes to continue to work with all transportation agencies to ensure reliable and safe rails in the coming years. FRA's mission is to ensure that the nation's transportation system runs as efficiently as possible.