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The Federal Railroad AdministrationThe Federal Railroad Administration is among the 10 agencies of DOT that are accountable for intermodal transportation. Its mission is to enable the safe and reliable movement of people and goods.FRA field inspectors routinely inspect railroad track, signal and train control systems, as and operating practices. They also investigate complaints.DefinitionA federal railroad is a type of rail transport in the United States that is controlled by the government. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) creates and enforces railway safety regulations, manages railroad funding, and researches ways to improve the efficiency of rail transportation systems. 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 is responsible for all passenger and freight transport that is made possible by the railway system of the United States. Additionally, the agency also supports the rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor rail passenger service and consolidates the government's support for rail transportation. Additionally, the agency oversees the management and ownership of all intermodal infrastructures such as tracks, rights-of-way, equipment, real property and rolling stock, and provides the overall coordination of federal rail transportation programs.The FRA's responsibilities are to establish through regulation, after opportunity for notice and comment the procedure by which anyone can submit a make a complaint to the Secretary of Homeland Security concerning railroad security problems or inconsistencies. In fela case settlements , the agency establishes policies and conducts inspections in order to evaluate the compliance of its rail safety laws in six technical disciplines that include track signal and train control, motive power and machinery, operating practices, hazmat, and highway-rail grade crossings.The agency is charged with the responsibility of making sure the railroad transportation system is safe, economical and sustainable. The agency also demands that railroads to provide a safe working environment and provide adequate training to their employees. The agency also sets and enforces railroad prices to ensure that the public is charged in a fair manner for transportation services.Additionally, the Federal Railroad Administration enacts and enforces regulations to prevent discrimination against railroad employees, and protect whistleblowers from retaliation by railroad companies. The agency also has an procedure through which railroad employees can file complaints against the company's actions.The primary goal of the FRA is to facilitate the safe efficient, reliable, and secure transportation of goods and people to build a stronger America both now and in the future. The FRA achieves this by controlling rail safety, coordinating programs to assist railroads and conducting research in support of better safety of railroads and national transportation policy as well as coordinating the development of rail networks and assisting the private sector manage railroads. In the past, railroads were essentially monopolies with little competition. In the end, railroads often misused their position in the market. Therefore, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission and other regulatory agencies to curb abuses by railroad monopolies.PurposeFederal railroads are federal institutions that make rules, regulate funds for rail and conduct research to improve rail transport in the United America. It operates the railroad infrastructure of the United States and manages passenger and freight railroads. It is one of 10 agencies of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is also responsible for maintaining and expanding current rail systems.Security is the primary responsibility in rail transportation. The Federal Railroad Administration is responsible for this. It has several divisions which oversee the country's passenger and freight railroad operations. The most important of these is the Office of Railroad Safety, which is home to about 350 safety inspectors. It is responsible for conducting inspections to determine compliance with the regulations in six technical disciplines: track signals, train control, motive power and equipment, operating practices hazardous materials and highway-rail grade crossings.FRA has additional departments, including the Office of Railroad Policy and Development. It oversees programs designed to improve freight and passenger rail transportation, including the Northeast Corridor Future. This department also is responsible for the grants that are made to help railways, and it collaborates with other agencies in planning for the country's rail needs.The FRA also has a duty to enforce federal laws pertaining to railroads and workers. This includes stopping railroads from discriminating against employees, and making sure that all injured railway employees are provided with transportation to the nearest hospital for first aid treatment. Railroads are also prohibited from delay or deny medical treatment for injured railway workers.The FRA is the main regulator for the passenger and freight rail industry, however other agencies manage the economic aspects of rail transportation. The Surface Transportation Board, for instance, is in charge of setting rates and managing the financial aspects of the industry. It also has the authority to regulate railroad mergers lines sales construction, and abandonment. After an open consultation period, the agency is also accountable for establishing regulations that allow anyone to report any suspected rail safety violations.FunctionsRails transport goods and people from and to cities in the developed world as and villages in countries that are less developed. They transport raw materials from processing and manufacturing facilities, and final goods from these facilities to stores or warehouses. Rail is an essential mode of transportation for a number of essential commodities including grain, oil and coal. In 2020, freight railroads transported more than a quarter of the freight volume in the United States [PDFThe PDF file contains more information about.The federal railroad is managed as a business. It has departments for marketing and operations, sales and an executive department. The department for marketing and sales works with potential and existing customers as well as clients to determine what services they require and what they need to cost. The operations department then creates the rail services that meet those requirements at the lowest possible cost to generate revenue for the railroad. The executive department oversees the entire operation and ensures that each department is operating efficiently.The government supports the railways by a variety of methods that include grants and subsidized rates for government-owned traffic. Congress also provides money to build new stations and tracks. These subsidies are often added to the revenue that railroads receive through tickets and freight contracts.In the United States, the government has the passenger railway Amtrak. It is a quasi-public, for-profit corporation with a significant stockholder, which is the United States government.The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) principal purpose is to create and enforce safety regulations for railroads. This includes regulating the mechanical conditions of trains, as well as the safety and health of railroad employees. FRA also collects data on security of rail lines to determine trends and areas that require improvement or attention from regulators and to identify trends.FRA also participates in other projects that improve the safety and efficiency of railway transportation in the United States. For instance, the agency seeks to eliminate obstacles that could delay railroads' introduction of positive train control systems (PTC). PTC is a security technology that uses sensors and computers to stop a train in the event that it is too close to an object or vehicle.HistoryIn the 1820s and 1830s, the first railroads in the United States were built, mostly in New England and Mid-Atlantic. The railroads significantly accelerated the industrialization process in these regions and also brought more food items to the market. This development allowed the country to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports from abroad, which in turn helped to foster a strong economic base.In the late nineteenth century the railroad industry went through an "Golden Age," during which many new, more efficient rail lines were constructed, and passenger travel by train became increasingly popular. This was in large part because of the government's efforts to expand the railroad system. For example the government offered homesteaders grants of land to encourage them to settle in the West and the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads collaborated to build the first transcontinental railroad, which enabled travel from New York to San Francisco in just six days.However in the early part of the 20th century, demand for passenger railroad services declined and other transportation options like automobiles and planes gained in popularity, while stifling regulations hampered railroads' ability to compete economically. A string of bankruptcies, service cuts, and deferred maintenance followed. Uninformed federal rail regulations also contributed to the decline.Around the year 1970, the federal government began loosening the restrictions on railroads' regulatory requirements. Surface Transportation Board was created to oversee economic matters such as railroad rates and mergers. The Federal Railroad Administration, which regulates freight and passenger transport and sets rail safety standards was also established.Since then, a significant deal of investment has been made in the country's railway infrastructure. The Northeast Corridor, for example, has been rebuilt to accommodate faster, more modern high speed ground transportation (HSGT) trains. Efforts have also been made to improve the efficiency of freight rail systems. FRA hopes to continue working with all transportation agencies to ensure reliable and safe rails in the near future. FRA's mission is to ensure that the nation's transportation system runs as efficiently as is possible.