What Freud Can Teach Us About Federal Railroad
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 field inspectors use discretion to determine which cases merit the precise and time consuming civil penalty process. This ensures that the most serious violations of punishment are penalized.
SMART-TD members and allies made history in 2024 when they began pushing the FRA to ensure that two people are in the cabs of locomotives of freight trains. fela railroad settlements continues.
Safety
The Federal Railroad Administration has a range of safety measures in place to safeguard the safety and health of employees and the public. It is responsible for developing and enforcing safety regulations for rail. It also oversees the funding for rail and conducts research on improvements to rail strategies and technology. It also develops and implements a strategy to maintain current infrastructure, services, and capacity, and strategically expands and enhances the national rail network. The department demands that all rail companies adhere to strict rules, empower their employees and provide them with the tools to be secure and productive. This includes participating in the secure close call reporting system, establishing occupational health and safety committees with full participation from unions and anti-retaliation protections and providing employees with needed personal protection equipment.
FRA inspectors are on the front lines of enforcement of rail safety regulations and laws. They conduct regular inspections of equipment and conduct a multitude of investigations of complaints of non-compliance. Civil penalties can be applied to those who break the rail safety laws. The agency's safety inspectors have broad discretion over whether a particular violation meets the statutory description of a civil penalty-worthy act. The Office of Chief Counsel's safety division also scrutinizes all reports submitted by regional offices to ensure they are legal before assessing penalties. This discretion is exercised both at the regional and field levels to ensure that civil penalties are only used in cases that warrant their use.
To be considered guilty of a civil infringement, a rail employee must know the rules and regulations governing the conduct of his or her employees. They also must be aware that they not adhere to these rules. The agency doesn't consider that a person who acts in response to a supervisor's direction is guilty of committing a willful crime. The agency defines "general railroad system" as the entire system that carries goods and passengers within and between cities and metropolitan areas. The trackage of a plant railroad within a steelmill is not considered to be part of the overall rail transportation system, despite the fact that it's physically connected.
Regulation
The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible to establish regulations for train operations that pertain to safety and the movement of hazardous substances. The agency manages rail finance, including grants and loan for infrastructure and service improvement. The agency works with other DOT agencies and industry to develop strategies for improving the nation's rail system. This includes maintaining the current rail infrastructure and services, addressing the needs for additional capacity, expanding the network strategically, and coordinating the regional and national system planning and development.
The agency is primarily responsible for freight transport, but also manages passenger transportation. The agency is trying to connect people to the destinations they desire and offer more choices for travel. The agency is focused on improving the experience for passengers, improving the safety of the current fleet, and ensuring that the rail network is operating efficiently.
Railroads must abide by a variety of federal regulations, including those pertaining to the size of crews on trains. In recent years, this issue has become controversial. Certain states have passed legislation that requires two-person crews on trains. This final rule codifies the minimum requirements for crew size at the federal level, making sure that all railroads are subject 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 enable FRA to compare the parameters of each operation with the parameters of a standard two-person crew operation. In addition this rule will change the standard of review for the special approval petition from determining whether the operation is "consistent with railroad safety" to determining if approving the operation would be as secure or as safe as an operation with two crew members.
During the public comment period for this rule, many people supported a two-person crew requirement. In a letter to the editor 29 people voiced their concerns that a single crew member is not in a position to respond in a timely manner to train accidents or malfunctions at grade crossings or assist emergency response personnel at the highway-rail level crossing. The commenters noted that human factors are responsible for more than half all railroad accidents and they believe that a larger crew would help ensure the safety of both the train and the cargo it transports.
Technology
Freight and passenger rails use a variety of technologies to improve efficiency, increase security, and improve safety. The rail industry lingo includes many unique terms and acronyms, but some of the more significant developments include machine vision systems, instrumented rail inspection systems, driverless trains, rolling data centers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly known as drones).
Technology isn't just replacing certain jobs, it's also empowering people to perform their jobs better and safer. Railroads that transport passengers are using smartphone apps and contactless fare payment cards to increase ridership and improve the efficiency of the system. Other developments, like autonomous rail vehicles, are inching closer to becoming reality.
The Federal Railroad Administration, as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure secure reliable, affordable, and cost-effective transportation in the United States is focusing on modernizing the rail infrastructure. This is a multi-billion dollars initiative that will see tunnels and bridges rebuilt as well as tracks and power systems upgraded and stations rebuilt or upgraded. FRA's recently enacted bipartisan infrastructure law will dramatically expand the agency's rail improvements programs.
The Office of Research, Development and Technology of the agency is a crucial component in this effort. The National Academies' recent review of the office found that it excelled in engaging, maintaining communications with and using inputs from a wide range of stakeholders. It still needs to focus on how its research contributes to the department's main goal of ensuring the safety of goods and people by rail.
The agency could improve its effectiveness by identifying and supporting automated train systems and technology. The Association of American Railroads, the main freight rail industry association 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 implementing 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 will be applicable to both rail and on-road transit vehicles. The agency would like to know the amount of risk that the industry is assessing with fully automated operation, and if the industry is considering any additional safeguards to minimize the risk.
Innovation
Railroads are adopting technology to increase worker safety, make business processes more efficient, and ensure that the freight it transports arrives at its destination in good condition. Examples of such technological advancement vary from the use cameras and sensors to monitor freight, to new railcar designs that keep dangerous cargo safe during transport. Certain of these technologies allow railroads to dispatch emergency responders directly to sites of accidents to minimize risk and damage to property and people.
One of the most renowned innovations in rail is Positive Train Control (PTC), which will inhibit train-to-train collisions, situations where trains are on tracks where they shouldn't be, and other accidents resulting from human error. This 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 increase safety and security. For instance, Amtrak is experimenting with the use of drones to assist passenger security personnel in finding passengers and other items aboard trains in case in the event of an emergency. The company is also exploring other ways to use drones, such as using them to perform inspections of bridges as well as other infrastructure, like replacing the lights on railway towers, which can be hazardous for workers to climb.
Smart track technology is another technology that is used in passenger railroads. It is able to detect objects or people on tracks and alert motorists that it is not safe to continue. These kinds of technology are especially beneficial in detecting unsafe crossings as well as other issues that can arise during times when traffic levels are lower and there are fewer people to witness an accident.
Telematics is yet another significant technological advance in the railway industry. It allows shippers, railways and other parties to follow a traincar's progress in real-time. These capabilities provide railcar operators and crews better accountability and visibility and can assist them in improving efficiency, prevent unnecessary maintenance and reduce delays in delivering freight to customers.