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The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology

The Federal Railroad Administration creates and enforces rail safety regulations, provides rail funding and studies strategies for improving rail safety.

FRA field inspectors employ discretion to decide which cases are worthy of the precise and time consuming civil penalty process. This allows them to ensure that the most serious violations are punished.

Members of SMART-TD and their allies made history in 2024 when they began pushing the FRA to keep two people in the cabs of locomotives of freight trains. The fight is not over.

Safety

The Federal Railroad Administration has a range of safety measures in place to protect the health and welfare of employees as well as the general public. It creates and enforces safety regulations for rail, administers rail funding and researches rail improvement strategies and technologies. It also develops and implements a plan to ensure that current rail services, infrastructure and capacity and strategically expands and enhances the national rail network. The department requires all rail companies to adhere to the strictest rules and regulations, and empower their employees and provide them with tools to be successful and safe. This includes a confidential close-call reporting system, creating labor-management occupational safety and health committees with full union participation and antiretaliation provisions and providing employees with the required personal protective equipment.

Inspectors of the FRA are at the leading edge of enforcing rail safety laws and regulations. They conduct regular inspections of equipment and conduct a multitude of investigations into complaints of noncompliance. Anyone who is in violation of the rail safety laws could be punished with civil penalties. Safety inspectors from the agency have a broad discretion on whether a particular violation meets the statutory definition of a criminal penalty-worthy employers liability act fela. The Office of Chief Counsel’s safety division also scrutinizes the reports submitted by regional offices to determine if they are legal prior to imposing penalties. The exercise of this discretion at both the regional and field levels helps ensure that the exacting, time-consuming civil penalty process is applied only in those situations which truly warrant the deterrent impact of a civil penalty.

A rail worker must be aware of rules and regulations that govern their actions and knowingly disregard those standards to be guilty of a civil penalty-worthy offence. However the agency does not consider any individual who is acting under a direction by a supervisor as having committed a willful violation. The agency defines the "general railroad system of transportation" as the entire network that passengers and goods travel within metropolitan and city areas and between them. The trackage of a plant railroad at the steel mill isn't considered part of the general transportation system that trains even though it is physically connected to it.

Regulation

The Federal Railroad Administration sets train regulations, ranging from those related to safety and the movement of hazardous materials. The agency manages rail finance, which includes grants and loan for infrastructure and service improvement. The agency works with other DOT agencies as well as industry to devise strategies for improving the nation's rail system. This includes ensuring the current rail services and infrastructure, addressing the need for new capacity strategically expanding the network and coordinating regional and national systems planning and development.

The agency is mostly responsible for freight transportation, but also manages passenger transportation. The agency is trying to connect people to the places they want and provide more choices for travel. The agency's primary focus is on improving the passenger's experience, enhancing safety of the current fleet, and making sure that the rail network continues operating efficiently.

Railroads must abide by a variety of federal regulations, relating to the size of crews on trains. This is controversial in recent years, with a few states passing legislation to require two-person crews on trains. This final rule outlines the minimum requirements for crew size at a federal level, ensuring that all railroads are subject to the same safety standards.

This law also requires that each railroad operating a one-person crew notify FRA and submit an analysis of risk. This will allow FRA to identify the specifics of each operation and compare them to those of a normal two-person crew operation. This rule also alters the review standard of a special approval request to determine if an operation is "consistent" with railroad safety to determining if the operation is safer or safer than two-person crew operation.

During the time of public comment on this rule, a number of people voted for a requirement of two people on the crew. A form letter sent by 29 people outlined their concerns that a lone crewmember could not be as quick to respond to train malfunctions or grade crossing incidents, or assist emergency response personnel at a highway rail grade crossing. The commenters noted that human factors account for more than half all railroad accidents and believe that a larger team will ensure the safety of both the train and the cargo it transports.

Technology

Railroads that transport passengers and freight employ a wide array of technologies to increase efficiency, improve security, increase safety and much more. The language used in the rail industry includes many distinct terms and acronyms but some of the more notable innovations include machine vision systems, instrumented rail inspection systems, driverless trains, rolling data centers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly called drones).

Technology doesn't just replace some jobs. It helps people perform their jobs more effectively and more safely. Passenger railroads use smartphones apps and contactless fare cards to increase passengership and boost the efficiency of their system. Other innovations like autonomous rail cars are coming closer to becoming reality.

As part of its ongoing efforts to improve safe, reliable and affordable transportation for the entire nation The Federal Railroad Administration is focused on modernizing its rail infrastructure. This multi-billion-dollar effort will see tunnels, bridges, tracks and power systems upgraded and stations being rebuilt or replaced. The FRA's rail improvement program will be greatly increased by the recently approved bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The agency's Office of Research, Development and Technology is a central element in this initiative. The most recent National Academies review of the office found that it excelled in engaging, maintaining communication and using inputs from a variety of stakeholders. It must continue to consider how its research contributes to the department's main goal of ensuring safe movement of people and goods via railways.

One area where the agency might be able to improve its effectiveness is in identifying and supporting the advancement of automated train technology and systems. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is the main industry association for the freight rail industry that is focused on research and policy, as well as standard setting created an Technical Advisory Group for Autonomous Train Operations to assist in helping create standards within the industry.

The FRA is interested in the group’s development of a taxonomy to describe automated rail vehicles which defines clearly and consistently different levels of automation. This would apply to both rail transit and vehicles on the road. The agency will want to know the level of risk the industry sees in fully automated operation, and whether the industry is contemplating any additional safeguards to minimize the risk.

Innovation

Rail companies are embracing technology to increase worker safety, improve efficiency in business processes, and ensure that the freight they transport is delivered intact. These innovations vary from cameras and sensors that monitor freight, to new railcar designs that help keep dangerous cargo safe during transit. Some of these technologies enable railroads to dispatch emergency personnel directly to accident sites to minimize risk and damage to people and property.

One of the most well-known innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC) that will stop collisions between trains and train, situations where trains are on tracks they shouldn't be and other accidents that are caused by human mistakes. This system is made up of three parts consisting of locomotives onboard that track the train; wayside networks which communicate with the locomotive; and a massive server that gathers and analyzes data.

Railroads that transport passengers are also embracing technology to bolster security and safety. Amtrak is one example. It is testing the use of drones in order to help train security personnel locate passengers and items in an emergency. Amtrak is also investigating other ways to use drones, including deploying drones to inspect bridges and other infrastructure such as replacing the lighting on railway towers, which could be hazardous for workers to climb.

Smart track technology is a different technology that is used in railways that transport passengers. It is able to detect objects or people on tracks and alert drivers if it is unsafe to continue. These kinds of technologies are particularly beneficial in detecting unsafe crossings as well as other issues that can arise during times when traffic volumes are lowest and there are fewer people to witness an accident.

Another important technological breakthrough in the rail industry is telematics, which allows railroads, shippers and other stakeholders to see a traincar's status and condition via real-time tracking. Crews and railcar operators will benefit from increased accountability and visibility which can help them improve efficiency as well as avoid unnecessary maintenance and reduce delays when delivering freight.