From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the US Dept of   
   Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Dept of Transport Act of   
   1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail safety   
   regulations, administer railroad    
   assistance programs, conduct research and development in support of improved   
   railroad safety and national rail transportation policy, provide for the   
   rehabilitation of Northeast Corridor rail passenger service, and consolidate   
   government support of rail    
   transportation activities.   
      
   The FRA is one of ten agencies within DOT concerned with intermodal   
   transportation. It operates through seven divisions under the offices of the   
   Administrator and Deputy Administrator. These divisions are: Financial   
   Management and Administration, Chief    
   Counsel, Civil Rights, Public Affairs, Public Engagement, Railroad Policy and   
   Development, and Safety. It has a staff of about 850.   
      
   All passenger and freight rail travel in the US on the national interconnected   
   rail infrastructure is subject to regulation by the FRA. FRA regulates public   
   and intercity rail services, but does not regulate "closed" railways that   
   operate exclusively on    
   private property, such as a rail system between buildings at a steel mill, nor   
   does it regulate subways, light rail or elevated intra-city passenger rail   
   systems that do not connect to any public rail networks. Most notably, the FRA   
   enforces safety regs,    
   such as speed limits and requirements for safety features such as positive   
   train control. Non-legislative recommendations for FRA policy come from the   
   Rail Safety Advisory Committee, established in 1996, though much of FRA policy   
   is created via    
   congressional legislation; for example, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of   
   2008 was an act of Congress, which the FRA enforced through a series of regs   
   published two years later. These regs include enforcement of positive train   
   control and enforcement of    
   more stringent conductor certification requirements.   
      
   In 2011, the FRA began the process of updating its electronic device policy   
   for active train operators.   
      
   In June 2015, the FRA announced a railway safety initiative with Google that   
   would include the FRAs GIS data into its mapping services. The data pinpoints   
   the location of over 250,000 rail crossings in the US. The FRA believes that   
   providing the location    
   of rail crossings in maps will enhance crossing safety by people who are using   
   navigation systems while driving. The agency also created a web portal for the   
   public to report blocked crossings in order to collect data on the implication   
   for safety and    
   economy of stopped trains blocking crossings.   
      
   Citing safety concerns, in 2016 the FRA proposed a rule to mandate train crew   
   sizes but the agency withdrew the rule in 2019 stating "that no regulation of   
   train crew staffing is necessary or appropriate for railroad operations to be   
   conducted safely at    
   this time." This was in part due to the improving safety record for rail and   
   also the implementation of PTC across nearly 60,000 route miles of track.   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Railroad_Administration   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)