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The Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration is one of the DOT's 10 departments involved in intermodal transportation. Its purpose is to ensure the safe and secure movement of people and goods. FRA field inspectors inspect the railroad track, train control and signal systems as well operating practices. They also investigate complaints. Definition A federal railroad is a type of rail transport in the United States that is controlled by the government. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, creates and enforces regulations for railways and regulates funds for railroads, and conducts research to improve railway transportation. The FRA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's intermodal transportation division and its chief executives are the Administrator as well as the Deputy Administrator. The agency supervises all freight and passenger transportation that utilizes the nation's railway network. Additionally, the agency also supports the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor rail passenger service and consolidates the government's support for rail transportation. The agency also regulates ownership and operation of intermodal facilities like tracks, rights of way, equipment, real estate and rolling stock. It also oversees federal rail transportation programs. The FRA's responsibilities are to establish through regulation, following an opportunity for notice and comment an avenue through which any person may make a complaint to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security problems or inconsistencies. In addition, the agency creates policies and conducts inspections to assess the compliance of its rail safety laws in six technical disciplines: track signals and train control, motive power and equipment, operating practices, hazmat and highway-rail grade crossings. The agency has the responsibility of ensuring that the railroad transportation system is secure, economical, and environmentally friendly. In turn, the agency requires railroads to provide the safety of their workers and provide appropriate training for their employees. Additionally, the agency establishes and enforces railroad rates to ensure that the public receives fair prices for their transportation services. Additionally to that, the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces rules to prevent discrimination against railroad workers, and also protects whistleblowers from retaliation by railroad carriers. The agency also has an avenue for railroad employees to file complaints about the conduct of the company. The main goal of the FRA is to ensure the safe, reliable and effective movement of goods and people to ensure a secure America today and in the future. The FRA accomplishes this by controlling rail safety, coordinating programs for assistance to railroads, conducting research in support of better safety of railroads and national transportation policy and coordinating the development of rail networks and assisting the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads dominated the market with no competition. This meant that railroads often misused their position in the marketplace. Hence, Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission and other regulatory agencies to prevent abuses by railroad monopolies. Purpose The federal railroad is a government agency that establishes rules, oversees funds for rail and researches ways to improve the nation's rail transport system. It manages the railway infrastructure of the United States and oversees freight and passenger railroads. It is one of 10 agencies in the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also charged with maintaining and expanding current rail systems, ensuring the capability of the railroad industry to meet the growing demand for freight and travel, as well as providing leadership in national and regional system planning. The main responsibility of the federal 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 rail operations. The most important of these is the Office of Railroad Safety, with about 350 safety inspectors. It is responsible for conducting inspections that determine compliance with regulations in six technical disciplines including track, signal and train control, motive power and equipment, operating procedures as well as hazmat and highway rail grade crossings. FRA has several departments, such as the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. It is responsible for the programs that are meant to improve freight and passenger railway transportation, including the Northeast Corridor Future. This department also is responsible for grants that are given to railways and collaborates with other agencies in planning for the country's rail needs. The FRA also has a responsibility to enforce federal laws pertaining to railroads and workers. This includes preventing railroads to discriminate against workers and making sure that all injured railway staff are transported to the nearest hospital to receive treatment. Additionally, railroads are prohibited from denying or delaying medical treatment to injured railway employees. The FRA is the primary regulator of the freight and passenger rail industries, but there are other organizations that manage the economic aspects of rail transportation. Surface Transportation Board is responsible for establishing rates and managing economics in the industry. It also has the authority to regulate railroad mergers, line sales, construction and abandonment. After a period of public consultation, the agency is also responsible for establishing rules that permit anyone to report any alleged rail safety violations. Functions Rails transport goods and people from and to cities in developed countries as also to villages in countries that are less developed. They transport raw materials to manufacturing and processing plants, and finished products from those factories to warehouses and stores. Railroads are an essential mode of transportation for many essential commodities, such as coal, oil, and grains. In 2020, freight railroads moved more than a quarter of all freight volumes in the United America [PDF(PDF). Federal railroads function as a business just like other businesses with departments for marketing and operations, sales and an executive department. The department for marketing and sales works with current and potential customers to determine what kind of rail services they require and the amount they should cost. The operations department then develops rail services that meet these needs at the cheapest cost to earn money for railroad. The executive department oversees the entire operation and ensures that each department is operating efficiently. The government offers support to railways in various ways including grants, to subsidised rates for government-owned transport. Congress also provides funds to support and build stations and tracks. These subsidies are usually in addition to the revenues railroads receive from ticket sales and freight contracts. Amtrak is owned by the United States government. It is a quasi-public for profit company with a huge stockholder that is the United States government. The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) primary task is to formulate and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical condition of trains as well as the safety and health of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on security of rail lines to identify patterns and areas that require improvement or attention from the regulatory side and to identify trends. In addition to these primary functions, FRA works on various other projects aimed at improving the security and economy of rail transportation in the United States. For instance, the agency seeks to lower the barriers that could delay railroads in adopting positive train control (PTC). PTC is a safety system that makes use of sensors and on-board computers to stop the train automatically when it gets too close to another vehicle or object. History In the 1820s and 1830s, the first railroads in the United States were constructed, mostly in New England and Mid-Atlantic. The railroads accelerated industrialization and brought more food products to market in these areas. This helped the country to become more independent and less dependent on imports from abroad, which in turn resulted in a solid economic base. In the late nineteenth century, the railroad industry experienced a “Golden Age,” during which many new, more efficient rail lines were built, and passenger travel by train became more popular. This was in large part because of the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. For fela attorneys provided land grants to homesteaders to encourage them to settle in the West and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads worked together to complete the first transcontinental railroad, which made it possible to travel from New York to San Francisco in six days. However in the first half of the 20th century, demand for passenger railroad services decreased and other transportation options like airplanes and cars gained popularity, while stifling regulations choked railroads in their ability to compete economically. The industry was plagued by a string of bankruptcies, service cuts, and deferred maintenance. In addition, a misguided federal railway regulation led to the decline of the railroad industry. In the year 1970, the federal government began loosening the regulatory restrictions on railroads. The Surface Transportation Board was established to oversee the economic aspects of the industry, such as mergers and rates for railroads. The Federal Railroad Administration was also established, which is responsible for establishing rules for safety in rail and is one of the 10 agencies within the U.S. Department of Transportation which oversees passenger and freight transportation. Since then, the railroad infrastructure of the United States has seen a lot of investment. The Northeast Corridor, for example has been renovated to accommodate faster, more modern high speed ground transportation (HSGT) trains. There have also been efforts to create more efficient freight rail systems. In the future, FRA hopes to continue its relationship with all transportation agencies in order to ensure safe and reliable railroads. It is the agency's job to ensure that the transportation system of the United States is as efficient as it can be.