• 목록
• 답변
• 글쓰기
• 게시판 리스트 옵션
  • 수정
  • 삭제

The Federal Railroad Administration

The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the DOT's 10 departments concerned with intermodal transportation. Its goal is to facilitate the safe and reliable movement of people and goods.

FRA field inspectors regularly inspect railroad tracks, signals and train control systems, as well as operating procedures. They also investigate complaints.

Definition

A federal railroad is a type of rail transport in the United States that is controlled by the federal government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, creates and enforces regulations governing railways, administers railroad funds, and conducts research to improve the efficiency of rail transportation. The FRA is one of the 10 agencies within the U.S. Department of Transportation that is concerned with intermodal transportation, and its chief executive officers are the Administrator and Deputy Administrator.

The agency is responsible for all freight and passenger transport that uses the railway system of the United States. In addition the agency supports the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor rail passenger service and consolidates support from the federal government for rail transportation. Moreover, the agency regulates the ownership and operation of all intermodal infrastructures such as tracks, right-of-way, equipment and real property as well as rolling stock, and also provides the overall coordination of federal rail transportation programs.

The FRA's responsibilities are to establish through regulation, after opportunity for notice and comment, a process by anyone can make a complaint to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security issues or shortcomings. The agency also formulates guidelines, conducts inspections and assesses the compliance of its rail laws in six technical disciplines, including track signal, track, and train control; motive power and equipment; operating practices; hazmat and highway-rail grade intersections.

The agency has the responsibility of ensuring that the railway transportation system is operating in a safe, economic and sustainable manner. This is why the agency requires railroads to maintain a safe working environment and provide adequate training for their employees. The agency also determines and enforces the cost of fela claims railroad employees services to ensure that the public is charged fairly for transportation services.

The Federal Railroad Administration also enacts and implements rules to prevent discrimination against railroad employees. The agency also safeguards whistleblowers from retaliation from railroad carriers. The agency also has procedures for railroad employees can file complaints regarding the company's actions.

The primary goal of the agency is to ensure safe, reliable and effective movement of goods and people to ensure a secure America today and in the future. The FRA accomplishes this by regulating railroad safety, managing railroad assistance programs conducting research to help better safety of railroads and national rail transportation policies, coordinating and supporting the development of rail networks, and helping the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads controlled the market with no competition. The railroad industry abused its dominant position in the market, resulting in. Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission, as and other regulatory agencies, to curb the monopolies' exploitation of railroads.

Purpose

The federal railroad is a government agency that sets regulations, manages rail funds and studies ways to improve the nation's rail transportation system. It is responsible for both freight and passenger railroads, and also manages the nation's railway infrastructure. It is one of 10 agencies of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also responsible for maintaining and expanding the current rail systems, ensuring the capacity of the rail industry to meet the growing demand for freight and travel as well as providing leadership in national and regional system planning.

The primary responsibility of the government in the rail transportation industry is safety. The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for this. It has a number of divisions that supervise the country's freight and passenger railway operations. The Office of Railroad Safety is the largest of these, with around 350 inspectors. It is responsible for conducting safety inspections across six technical disciplines, including track signal, and train control equipment and motives, operating procedures, hazmat, and highway-rail grade crosses.

FRA has various departments, including the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. It is responsible for the programs that aim to improve freight and passenger rail transportation, including the Northeast Corridor Future. This department is responsible for granting grants for railways and collaborates with other agencies to plan the nation's rail requirements.

The FRA also has a responsibility to enforce federal laws related to railroads and their workers. This includes stopping railroads from using their power to discriminate against employees and making sure that injured railway employees are taken to the nearest hospital to receive treatment. Additionally, railroads are prohibited from refusing or delaying medical treatment to injured railway workers.

The FRA is the main regulator of the passenger and freight rail industry, but other agencies oversee the economic aspects of rail transportation. The Surface Transportation Board, for example is responsible for setting rates and managing the economics of the industry. It also has the authority to regulate mergers in the railroad industry and line sales construction and abandonment. After the public consultation period, the agency is also responsible for establishing regulations that allow anyone to file a complaint about any alleged rail safety violations.

Functions

Railroads transport people and goods to and from cities in the developed nations, as and remote villages in less developed countries. They transport raw materials to processing and manufacturing factories, and then the final products from those factories to warehouses and stores. Railroads are an essential mode of transportation for many vital commodities, including coal, oil, and grains. In 2020, freight rail transported more than a quarter of country's total freight volume [PDF].

Federal railroads operate as a business just like other businesses, with departments for marketing and operations, sales, and an executive department. The department for marketing and sales talks with customers and potential clients to determine what services they need and how much they should cost. The operations department then creates rail services that meet these needs at the cheapest cost to generate revenue for railroads. The executive department supervises the entire operation and ensures that every department is operating efficiently.

The government supports the railways through a variety of methods that include grants and subsidized rates for government-owned traffic. Congress also provides funds to support and build new stations and tracks. These subsidy funds are often added to the money that railroads earn through tickets and freight contracts.

Amtrak is owned by the United States government. It is a quasi-public for-profit corporation with a significant shareholder that is the United States government.

The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) main purpose is to create and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical condition of trains and the health and safety of railroad employees. FRA also gathers and analyzes data on rail safety to identify patterns and areas that might require more or better regulatory attention.

FRA also has other projects that improve the economy and safety of rail transportation in the United States. For instance, the agency is working to eliminate barriers that could delay railroads in the implementation of positive train control (PTC). PTC is a safety system that uses sensors and on-board computers to stop the train when it is too close to a vehicle or other object.

History

The nation's first railroads were built in the 1820s and 1830s, largely in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Railroads significantly accelerated industrialization in these areas and also brought more food products to the market. This allowed the country become more independent and less dependent on imports.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century the railroad industry was experiencing a "Golden Age," during which many new, more efficient rail lines were constructed, and passenger travel by train became increasingly popular. The government's efforts to expand the railroad system was an important reason. For instance the government offered land grants to homesteaders to encourage them to move to the West, and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads worked together to complete the first transcontinental railroad which enabled travel from New York to San Francisco in just six days.

However, in the first half of the 20th century, the demand for passenger railroad services decreased and other modes of transport like cars and airplanes gained popularity, while regulations choked railroads' ability to compete economically. The industry was plagued by a succession of bankruptcies as well as service cuts and delayed maintenance. Misguided federal rail regulations also contributed to the decline.

Around 1970, federal government began loosening the regulations governing railroads. Surface Transportation Board was created to oversee economic aspects like railroad rates and mergers. The Federal Railroad Administration was also established, which is responsible for establishing standards for rail safety and is one of the 10 agencies of the U.S. Department of Transportation that supervises passenger and freight transportation.

Since then, the railroad infrastructure of the United States has seen a lot of investment. The Northeast Corridor, for example was rebuilt to accommodate faster, more modern high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) trains. There have also been efforts to create more efficient systems for freight rail. FRA hopes to continue working with all transportation agencies to ensure reliable and safe rails in the near future. It is the job of FRA to help make sure that the transportation system of the United States is as efficient as it can be.