• 글쓰기
• 목록

The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology

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

FRA inspectors on the ground make use of discretion to decide which cases merit the lengthy and precise civil penalty process. This helps ensure that the most serious violations are punished.

Allies and members of SMART-TD made history in 2024 when they began pushing the FRA to keep two people in the cabs of locomotives of freight trains. The fight continues.

Safety

The Federal Railroad Administration implements a number of safety measures to protect the health of its employees and public. It is responsible for creating and enforcing safety regulations for rail. It also administers rail funding, and studies rail improvement strategies and technological developments. It also develops and implements a plan to ensure the current infrastructure, services, 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, empower their employees and provide them with tools to succeed and stay safe. This includes participating in the confidential close-call reporting system, establishing labor-management occupational safety and health committees, with full-union participation and antiretaliation provisions and providing employees with the required personal protective gear.

Inspectors of the FRA are at the forefront of enforcing rail safety regulations and laws. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and investigate hundreds of complaints. Civil penalties are handed out to those who violate rail safety laws. Safety inspectors from the agency have a broad decision-making power to determine if an act is within the legal definition of an act that is punishable by civil penalties. In addition, the Office of Chief Counsel's safety department reviews all reports that are received by regional offices for legal sufficiency before assessing penalties. This discretion is exercised at the field and regional levels to ensure that civil penalties are only applied when they are necessary.

To be considered guilty of a civil offense an employee of a railroad must be aware of the rules and regulations governing their actions. They also must be aware that they disregard these standards. The agency does not consider that a person who acts upon a directive from a supervisor has committed a willful offence. The agency defines the "general railroad system of transportation" as the whole network that passengers and goods travel within metropolitan areas and between them. The trackage of a plant railroad in the steelmill isn't considered to be part of the general rail transportation system, despite the fact that it is physically connected.

Regulation

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

Although the majority of the agency's activities are focused on freight transportation, it also manages the transportation of passengers. The agency is trying to connect people to places they want and provide more choices for travel. The agency's primary focus is on improving the experience of passengers, enhancing safety of the current fleet, and making sure that the rail network is operating efficiently.

Railroads are required to abide with a variety of federal regulations, including those relating to the size and composition of crews on trains. In recent years this issue has been a source of contention. Certain states have passed legislation that requires two-person crews in trains. This final rule outlines the minimum crew size requirements at the federal employers level, making sure that all railroads are subject to the same safety standards.

This also requires every railroad that has one-person train crews to notify FRA of the operation and submit a risk assessment. This will enable FRA to evaluate the characteristics of each operation to those of a two-person standard crew operation. This rule also alters the standard for reviewing an approval request that is a special case from determining if an operation is "consistent" with railroad safety, to determining if the operation is as safe or safer than two-person crew operation.

During the time of public comment for this rule, a lot of people voiced their support for a requirement of two persons on the crew. In a letter to the editor, 29 people expressed their concern that a single crew member will not be in a position to respond in a timely manner to train accidents or malfunctions at grade crossings, or assist emergency personnel on the highway-rail level crossing. The commenters noted that human factors are responsible for more than half railroad accidents and they think that a bigger crew will ensure the safety of the train and its cargo.

Technology

Railroads for passenger and freight use various technologies to increase efficiency, add safety, boost security and much more. The rail industry lingo contains a myriad of specific terms and acronyms, but some of the most notable innovations include machine vision systems, instrumentsed rail inspection systems, driverless trains, rolling data centers and drones that are not piloted (commonly called drones).

Technology doesn't just replace some jobs. It empowers people to perform their jobs more effectively and with greater security. Railroads that transport passengers use smartphones and contactless fare cards in order to increase ridership and increase the efficiency of their system. Other developments like autonomous rail cars are moving closer to becoming reality.

The Federal Railroad Administration, as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure safe reliable, affordable, and cost-effective transportation in the United States is focusing on modernizing the railway infrastructure. This is a multi-billion dollars initiative that will see bridges and tunnels 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 crucial component in this initiative. The National Academies' recent review of the office found that it was successful in keeping in touch with and using inputs from a broad range of stakeholders. It still needs to be aware of how its research contributes towards the department's main goal of ensuring the safety of goods and people by rail.

The agency could enhance its efficiency by identifying and supporting automated train systems and technologies. The Association of American Railroads, the freight rail industry's primary industry organization that focuses on research, policy, and standardization, has established a Technical Advisory Group on Autonomous Train Operations to assist in the development of industry standards to implement the technology.

The FRA is interested in the group's development of a taxonomy for automated rail vehicles, a system that defines clearly and consistently different levels of automation. This could apply to both rail transit and vehicles on the road. The agency will also want to know the degree of risk to safety that the industry perceives associated when implementing a fully automated system and whether or not the industry is contemplating additional protections to minimize the risk.

Innovation

Railroads are embracing technology to improve worker safety, make business processes more efficient, and ensure that the freight that they transport arrives at its destination safely. These innovations include cameras and sensors that monitor freight, to new railcar designs that keep hazardous cargo safe during transport. Some of these technologies enable railroads to dispatch emergency responders directly to sites of accidents to minimize risk and minimize damages to property and individuals.

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

Railroads that transport passengers also use technology to enhance safety and security. Amtrak for instance, is experimenting with drones in order to help train security staff find passengers and other items in an emergency. The company is also exploring other possibilities to utilize drones, including deploying drones to conduct inspections of bridges and other infrastructure, for example, replacing the lighting on railway towers, which can be hazardous for workers to climb.

Smart track technology is a different technology that can be used in railways that transport passengers. It can detect people or objects on tracks and warn drivers that it is unsafe to continue. These kinds of technology are especially valuable for detecting unauthorized crossings as well as other issues that can arise in the off-hours, when traffic levels are lower and fewer people are around to witness an accident.

Another important technological advancement in the rail industry is telematics, which allows railroads, shippers and other stakeholders to monitor a traincar's status and condition by real-time tracking. These capabilities provide railcar operators and crews better control and visibility. They can also aid in improving efficiency, prevent unnecessary maintenance and reduce delays in the delivery of freight to customers.