The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) https://railroads.dot.gov/ is part of the Department of Transportation established in 1966.  FRA is responsible for ensuring the safe, reliable, and efficient movement of goods and people by rail.  The most recent law covering this entity was the 2008 Federal Rail Safety Improvements Act https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/fra_net/2189/RSIA_Pub.%20L.%20No.%20110-432%20in%20pdf.pdf and FRA’s overall legal authority comes from 49 USC 103 https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title49-section103&num=0&edition=prelim  Regulations enforcing this FRA activities can be found in 49 CFR 200-299 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-II 

FRA is lead by a presidentially nominated and Senate-confirmed administrator and associate administrator.  Its Fiscal Year 2024 budget was $3 billion and the agency had approximately 1,100 employees carrying out safety and compliance activities, research and development, and other responsibilities.  It’s e-library https://railroads.dot.gov/elibrary-search features information resources including accident investigations, artificial intelligence, fatigue management, press releases, and numerous other topics.

This blog post was submitted by Bert Chapman, Purdue University.