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The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for the safety of rail, regulations and enforcement, as well as funding for rail, and research on improving rail strategies. FRA inspectors on the ground make use of discretion to determine which cases are worthy of the lengthy and precise civil penalty procedure. This ensures that the violations most deserving of punishment are penalized. Members of SMART-TD and their allies made history in 2024 when they began pushing the FRA to keep two people in the locomotive cab of freight trains. The fight continues. Safety The Federal Railroad Administration has a range of safety measures in place to safeguard the health and welfare of employees as well as the general public. It is responsible for establishing and enforcing safety regulations for rail. It also administers rail funding and studies rail improvement strategies and technologies. It also formulates the implementation and maintenance of a plan for maintaining the current infrastructure and services for rail. It also develops and improves the rail network across the nation. The department expects that all rail companies adhere to strict rules, empower their employees and provide them with the tools to ensure their safety and success. This includes participating in 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. FRA inspectors are at the forefront of enforcement of rail safety laws and regulations. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and investigate hundreds of complaints. Those who violate the safety rules for rail can be penalized civilly. The agency's safety inspectors have a broad discretion on whether a particular violation meets the statutory definition of a civil penalty-worthy act. The Office of Chief Counsel’s safety division also reviews the reports submitted by regional offices to ensure they are legal prior to imposing penalties. The exercise of this discretion at the regional and field levels helps ensure that the time-consuming, costly civil penalty process is utilized only in cases which truly warrant the deterrent effect of a civil fine. To be considered guilty of a civil infringement, a rail employee must be aware of the rules and regulations governing his or her actions. They must also knowingly ignore these rules. The agency does not believe that a person who acts on a supervisor's directive is guilty of committing a willful crime. The agency defines the “general railroad system of transportation” as the entire system that allows passengers and goods to travel within metropolitan areas or between them. A plant railroad's trackage in a steel mill is not considered part of the general transportation system that trains, even although it is physically connected to it. Regulation The Federal Railroad Administration sets train regulations, including those pertaining to safety and movement of hazardous materials. The agency also oversees rail financing including loans and grants for infrastructure and improvements to service. The agency collaborates with other DOT agencies and with industry to devise strategies to improve the nation's railway system. This includes maintaining the current rail infrastructure and services, responding to the demands for additional capacity and expanding the network strategically, and coordinating national and regional system development and planning. Although the majority of the agency's activities are focused on freight transportation, it also handles the transportation of passengers. The agency is aiming to provide more options for passengers and connect passengers with the places they want to travel to. The agency is focused primarily on enhancing the experience for passengers, enhancing safety of the existing fleet and ensuring the rail network is operating efficiently. Railroads are required to abide with a range of federal regulations, including the ones pertaining to the size and composition of train crews. This issue has become controversial in recent years, with some states passing legislation to require two-person crews on trains. This final rule establishes federally the minimum size crew requirements, ensuring that all railroads follow the same safety standards. This also requires every railroad that has a one-person train crew to inform FRA of the operation and submit an assessment of risk. This will enable FRA to compare the parameters of each operation with the parameters of a standard two-person crew operation. This rule also alters the review standard of a special approval request from determining whether an operation is “consistent” with railroad safety standards to determining whether the operation is as safe or safer than two-person crew operation. During the time of public comment for this rule, a number of people voted for a requirement of two persons on the crew. In a formal letter, 29 people expressed their concerns that a single crew member would not be capable of responding in a timely manner to incidents or train malfunctions at grade crossings, or assist emergency response personnel on the highway-rail level crossing. Commenters pointed out that human factor are responsible for more than half all railroad accidents. fela accident attorney believe that a larger team would ensure the security of the train as well as its cargo. Technology Railroads for passenger and freight use a wide array of technologies to improve efficiency, increase security, increase safety and much more. The rail industry lingo contains a myriad of distinct terms and acronyms but some of the most notable innovations include machines-vision systems, instrumented rail inspection systems, driverless trains, rolling data centers and unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly called drones). Technology isn't merely replacing jobs, it's also empowering people to perform their jobs more efficiently and with greater security. Railroads that transport passengers use smartphones and contactless fare cards to increase ridership and increase the efficiency of their system. Other developments like autonomous rail cars are moving closer to reality. As part of its ongoing effort to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable transportation for the nation, the Federal Railroad Administration is focused on modernizing its rail infrastructure. This is a multi-billion dollar effort that will see tunnels and bridges repaired tracks, power systems and tracks upgraded, and stations rebuilt or replaced. The FRA's rail improvement program will be substantially increased by the recently approved bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Office of Research, Development and Technology of the agency is a key element in this effort. The National Academies' recent review of the office found that it excelled in engaging, maintaining communications with inputs from a broad range of stakeholders. But it must be more focused on how its research contributes to the department's primary strategic goal of ensuring the safe movement of goods and people via rail. The agency could increase its efficiency by identifying and implementing automated train systems and technology. The Association of American Railroads, the freight rail industry's primary industry organization that focuses on research, policy and standard setting and has created a Technical Advisory Group on Autonomous Train Operations to assist in the development of industry standards for the implementation of the technology. FRA is likely to be interested in the development of an automated rail taxonomy, which is a system of standards to clearly and consistently define the different levels of automation that would be applicable to both rail and on-road transit vehicles. The agency will also be looking to understand the level of risk to safety that the industry perceives associated when implementing a fully automated system and whether or not the industry is contemplating additional security measures to reduce the risk. Innovation Rail companies are adopting technology to increase worker safety, improve efficiency in business processes and ensure that the cargo they transport reaches its destination in good condition. These innovations include cameras and sensors that monitor freight to new railcar designs that keep hazardous cargo safe during transportation. Some of these technologies allow railroads to send emergency response personnel to areas of accidents so that they can quickly mitigate the damage and minimize risk to property and lives. One of the most prominent innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC), which will inhibit collisions between trains and train, situations where trains are on tracks they shouldn't be and other accidents that result from human error. The system is a three-part process consisting of onboard locomotive systems that track the train and wayside networks that communicate with the locomotive, and an enormous backend server that analyzes and collects data. Passenger railroads also embrace technology to improve security and safety. For instance, Amtrak is experimenting with drones to assist security personnel in finding passengers and other items aboard trains in case of an emergency. The company is also exploring ways to make use of drones. They could be used to inspect bridges and other infrastructures or to replace the lights on railway towers that are dangerous for workers to climb. Other technologies that can be used for railways for passengers include smart track technology, which is able to detect the presence of people or objects on the tracks and send out a warning to drivers if it's unsafe to travel. These types of technology are especially useful in detecting crossings that are not authorized and other problems in the off-hours, when traffic is at its lowest and fewer people are around to witness an accident. Another significant technological advance in the rail industry is telematics which allows railroads, shippers and other stakeholders to see the status and condition of a traincar via real-time tracking. These capabilities give railcar owners and crews greater accountability and transparency and aid in improving efficiency, prevent unnecessary maintenance and avoid delays in delivering freight to customers.