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The Federal Railroad Administration and Technology The Federal Railroad Administration creates and enforces rail safety regulations The Federal Railroad Administration also provides funding for rail and studies strategies for improving rail safety. FRA inspectors on the ground employ discretion to decide which cases merit the time-consuming and precise civil penalty process. This allows them to ensure that the violations most deserving of punishment are penalized. SMART-TD and its allies made history by 2024 when they convinced the FRA that two persons should be allowed to sit in the cabs of freight trains. The fight is not over. Safety The Federal Railroad Administration has a range of safety measures in place to safeguard the health and welfare of employees and the public. It is responsible for establishing and enforcing rail safety regulations. It also administers the funding for rail and conducts research on improvements to rail strategies and technology. It also creates and implements a plan to ensure the current rail services, infrastructure and capacity, and strategically develops and improves the national rail network. The department expects all rail employers to abide by strict rules and regulations, empower their workers and provide them with the tools needed to be successful and secure. This includes participation in the secure close call reporting system, establishing occupational health and safety committees, with full union participation and anti-retaliation protections and providing employees with the necessary personal protection equipment. Inspectors of the FRA are at the leading edge of enforcing rail safety laws and regulations. They conduct routine inspections of equipment and conduct a multitude of investigations into complaints of noncompliance. Civil penalties are applied to those who break rail safety laws. fela accident attorney from the agency have wide discretion to determine whether violations fall within the definition provided by law of an act punishable by civil penalties. Additionally the Office of Chief Counsel's security division examines all reports submitted from regional offices to determine their legality before determining penalties. This discretion is exercised both at the regional and field levels to ensure that civil penalties are only applied in situations that warrant them. To be considered guilty of a civil violation an employee of a railroad must know the rules and regulations governing their actions. They must also be aware of and ignore these rules. The agency does not consider that a person who acts upon a directive from a supervisor has committed a willful offense. The agency defines the “general railroad system of transportation” as the entire network that allows passengers and goods to travel within cities and metropolitan areas, or between them. The trackage of a plant railroad in the steelmill isn't considered to be part of the overall rail transportation system, even though it's physically connected. Regulation The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for establishing regulations for trains that pertain to safety and the transportation of hazardous substances. The agency is responsible for managing rail finance, including loans and grants for service and infrastructure improvement. The agency collaborates with other DOT agencies and industry to devise strategies to improve the nation's railway system. This includes ensuring the current rail infrastructure and services, responding to the demands for capacity expansion and expanding the network strategically and coordinating the national and regional system planning and development. Although the majority of the agency's activities are focused on freight transportation, it also oversees passenger transportation. The agency is working to provide more options for passengers and connect people to the places they want to go. The agency is focused on improving the experience for passengers and improving the safety of the existing fleet, and ensuring that the railway system continues to function efficiently. Railroads are required to abide with a range of federal regulations, including those that deal with the size and composition of train crews. This is an issue of contention in recent years, with several states enacting legislation that requires two-person crews on trains. This final rule outlines the minimum size of crew requirements at a federal level, ensuring that all railroads are held to the same safety standards. This rule also requires that every railroad operating with a crew of one notify FRA and submit an analysis of risk. This will allow FRA to evaluate the characteristics of each operation with the standard two-person crew operation. Additionally, this rule changes the criteria for reviewing the special approval petition from to determining whether an operation is “consistent with railroad safety” to determining if approving the operation would be as secure or as safe as a two-crewmember operation. During the public comment period for this rule, a large number of people backed a two-person crew requirement. A letter written by 29 people expressed their concern that a single crew member might not be as quick to respond to issues with trains or grade crossing incidents, or assist emergency response personnel at a highway rail grade crossing. The commenters noted that human factors are responsible for more than half railroad accidents, and they believe that a larger crew would help ensure the safety of the train and its cargo. Technology Freight and passenger rails use a variety of technologies to improve efficiency, improve security, and improve safety. Rail industry jargon covers many unique terms and acronyms. Some of the most well-known include machine vision systems (also known as drones) and rail-inspection systems that are instrumented, driverless train rolling data centers and unmanned aerial vehicle (also known as drones). Technology isn't just replacing certain jobs, it's also empowering individuals to perform their work more efficiently and with greater security. Passenger railroads use smartphones apps and contactless fare cards in order to increase ridership and increase the efficiency of their system. Other innovations like autonomous rail cars are coming closer to becoming reality. As part of its ongoing effort to ensure secure, reliable and affordable transportation for the entire nation The Federal Railroad Administration is focused on modernizing its rail infrastructure. This multi-billion dollar project will see tunnels, bridges, tracks and power systems upgraded and stations being rebuilt or replaced. FRA's recently enacted bipartisan infrastructure law will substantially increase the agency's rail improvement programs. The agency's Office of Research, Development and Technology is a key piece in this initiative. The most recent National Academies review of the office found it excelled at engaging, maintaining communication and using inputs of a wide range of stakeholders. But it must concentrate on how its research helps the department achieve its primary objective of ensuring the safe transportation of goods and people via rail. One area in which the agency could be able to increase its effectiveness is in identifying and assisting the advancement of automated train systems and technologies. The Association of American Railroads, the freight rail industry's primary business organization that is focused on research, policy, and standardization and has created a Technical Advisory Group on Autonomous Train Operations to help in developing industry standards to implement the technology. FRA is likely to be interested in the development of an automated rail taxonomy. It is a system of standards to clearly and consistently define the different levels of automation that could be applicable to both on-road and rail transit vehicles. The agency will also want to know the degree of risk to safety that the industry believes is associated when implementing a fully automated system and whether the industry is considering additional safeguards to mitigate that risk. Innovation Rail companies are adopting new technologies to increase worker safety, improve efficiency in business processes, and ensure that the cargo they transport is delivered intact. Examples of this kind of technological advancement include the use of cameras and sensors to track freight, to the latest railcar designs that keep dangerous cargo secure during transit. Some of these technologies offer railroads the ability to dispatch emergency personnel to the scene of an accident so they can swiftly mitigate risks to property and people. One of the most renowned 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 that result from human errors. The system is a three-part system consisting of onboard locomotive systems that track the train and wayside networks that communicate with the locomotive and a massive backend server that collects and analyzes data. Railroads that transport passengers are also embracing technology to improve safety and security. Amtrak is one example. It is experimenting with the use of drones to help train security staff locate passengers and items in the event of an emergency. Amtrak is also investigating other ways to use drones, such as using them to perform inspections of bridges as well as other infrastructure, like replacing the lighting on railway towers, which could be hazardous for workers to climb. Other technologies that can be utilized for railways for passengers include smart track technology, which can detect the presence of objects or people on the tracks and send an alert to drivers when it's unsafe for them to proceed. These types of technologies are particularly valuable for detecting unauthorized crossings as well as other issues that can arise in the off-hours, when traffic levels are lower and there are fewer people around to witness an accident. Telematics is a significant technological advance in the railway industry. It lets railways, shippers, and other stakeholders, to follow a traincar's progress in real-time. Such capabilities give railcar operators and crews greater accountability and transparency and help them improve efficiency, prevent unnecessary maintenance and reduce delays in the delivery of freight to customers.