Does Technology Make Federal Railroad Better Or Worse? The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology

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

FRA field inspectors make use of discretion to determine which cases merit the precise and time consuming civil penalty process. This discretion helps to ensure that the most serious violations are punished.

Allies and members of SMART-TD made history in 2024 by pushing the FRA to ensure that two people are in the locomotive cab of freight trains. The fight isn't over.

Safety

The Federal Railroad Administration has a variety of safety measures in place to safeguard the safety and health of employees as well as the general public. It creates and enforces rail safety regulations, administers rail funding and studies strategies for improving rail infrastructure and new technologies. It also creates the implementation and maintenance of an action plan to maintain the current rail infrastructure and services. It also works to expand and improve the rail network across the nation. The department requires all railroad employers to abide by strict rules and regulations, and empower their employees and provide them with the tools to be successful and secure. This includes taking part in an anonymous close-call reporting system, setting up labor-management occupational safety and health committees, with full union participation and antiretaliation provisions and providing employees with the needed personal protective gear.

Inspectors of the FRA are at the forefront of enforcing safety on rail regulations and laws. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and conduct hundreds of investigations into complaints of non-compliance. Civil penalties may be applied to those who break railroad safety laws. Safety inspectors from the agency have a broad discretion on whether an individual violation is in line with the statutory description of a criminal penalty-worthy act. The Office of Chief Counsel's safety division also examines the reports submitted by regional offices to ensure they are legal prior to imposing penalties. The exercise of this discretion at both the regional and field levels helps ensure that the time-consuming, costly civil penalty process is applied only in cases that are truly deserving of the impact of a civil penalty.

To be guilty of a civil violation, a rail employee must know the rules and regulations that govern the conduct of his or her employees. fela attorneys must also be aware of and ignore these rules. However, the agency does not take any person who follows a directive from a supervisor as having committed an intentional violation. The agency defines "general railroad system" as the whole network that transports passengers and goods within and between cities and metropolitan areas. The trackage of a plant railroad in a steelmill is not considered to be part of the overall rail transportation system, despite the fact that it is physically connected.

Regulation

The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible to establish regulations for train operations that pertain to safety and the transportation of hazardous substances. The agency manages railway finance, including grants and loan for infrastructure and service improvement. The agency works with other DOT agencies as well as industry to develop strategies for improving the nation's rail infrastructure. This work includes maintaining existing rail infrastructure and services as well as addressing the need for new capacity strategically expanding the network, as well as coordinating regional and national systems planning and development.

Although the majority of the agency's work is focused on freight transportation, it also manages the transportation of passengers. The agency is working to provide more options for passenger travel and connect passengers with the places they would like to go. The agency is focused on enhancing the passenger experience and increasing the safety of the existing fleet, and ensuring the rail network is operating efficiently.

Railroads must abide by a variety of federal regulations, relating to the size of the crews on trains. In recent times the issue has become controversial. Certain states have passed legislation that requires two-person teams on trains. The final rule codifies the minimum size of crew requirements at an international level, and ensures that all railroads are subject to the same safety standards.

This rule also requires each 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 assess the requirements of each operation to the parameters of a standard two-person crew operation. In addition, this rule changes the criteria for reviewing an approval petition that is based on to determining whether an operation is "consistent with railroad safety" to determining whether approving the operation is safe or safer than a two-crewmember operation.

During the public comment period on this rule, a large number of people backed the requirement of a two-person crew. In a letter to the editor 29 people voiced their concern that a single member of the crew will not be in a position to respond with the speed required to respond to incidents or train malfunctions at grade crossings, or assist emergency response personnel on the highway-rail level crossing. The commenters emphasized that human factors account for more than half of railroad accidents and think that a bigger crew will ensure the safety of the train and its cargo.

Technology

Freight and passenger rails use a variety of technologies to increase efficiency, enhance security, and increase safety. Rail industry jargon comprises many specific terms and acronyms. Some of the most well-known include machine vision systems (also called drones) and rail-inspection systems that are instrumented driverless trains rolling data centers and unmanned aerial vehicle (also known as drones).

Technology isn't just replacing some jobs -- it's empowering people to do their job better and safer. Passenger railroads are using smartphones and contactless fare payment cards to increase ridership and improve the efficiency of the system. Other innovations, like autonomous rail vehicles, are moving closer to reality.

As part of its ongoing efforts to advance 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 initiative that will see bridges and tunnels repaired, tracks and power systems upgraded, and stations rebuilt or upgraded. FRA's recently passed bipartisan infrastructure law will significantly expand the agency's rail improvements programs.

The agency's Office of Research, Development and Technology is a central component of this effort. The National Academies' recent review of the office concluded that it was successful in engaging, maintaining communications using inputs from a wide range of stakeholders. It must continue to consider how its research contributes to the department's main goal of ensuring the safe movement of people and goods by rail.

The agency could improve its efficiency by identifying and supporting automated train systems and technologies. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is the main industry association for the freight rail industry, which focuses on research policy, standard-setting and policy and has established the Technical Advisory Group for Autonomous Train Operations in order to help develop standards within the industry.

The FRA is interested in the development of a taxonomy for automated rail vehicles, a system that defines clearly and consistently the different levels of automation. This would apply to rail transit as well as vehicles on the road. The agency will also need to know the degree of safety risk that the industry perceives associated with implementing fully automated operation and whether or not the industry is contemplating additional safeguards to mitigate that risk.

Innovation

Railroads are adopting technology to boost worker safety, make business processes more efficient and help ensure that the cargo they move reaches its destination intact. These innovations range from sensors and cameras that monitor freight, to new railcar designs that help keep dangerous cargo safe during transit. Some of these technologies allow railroads dispatch emergency responders directly to the scene of an accident to minimize the danger and minimize the damage to people and property.

One of the most prominent innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC), which will inhibit collisions between trains and trains, situations in which trains are on tracks that shouldn't be, and other accidents that are caused by human mistakes. This system is made up of three parts of onboard locomotive systems that track the train; wayside networks that communicate with the locomotive; and a huge server that analyzes and collects data.


Trains for passengers also adopt technology to improve security and safety. Amtrak for instance, is testing the use of drones in order to help train security staff locate passengers and other items in an emergency. The company is also exploring other possibilities to utilize drones, including deploying drones to inspect bridges and other infrastructure, such as replacing the lighting on railway towers that could be dangerous for workers to climb.

Smart track technology is a different technology that can be used in passenger railroads. It is able to detect objects or people on tracks and warn motorists that it is not safe 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 is at its lowest and fewer people are around to witness an accident.

Telematics is yet another significant technological advance in the rail industry. It allows railways, shippers and other stakeholders to follow a traincar's progress in real-time. Railcar operators and crews can benefit from greater accountability and visibility which can help them to improve efficiency and avoid unnecessary maintenance. It will also help delay in the delivery of freight.