Updated: October 21 2019

Federal Railroad Administration

FRA’s Office of Safety promotes and regulates safety throughout the Nation’s railroad industry.  Inspectors specialize in the following five safety disciplines and promote numerous grade crossing and trespass-prevention initiatives:
Hazardous Materials
Motive Power and Equipment
Operating Practices
Signal and Train Control
Track
Highway-Rail Grade Crossing and Trespassing Prevention Programs

By law, the Office of Safety is responsible for promoting railroad safety nationwide and enforcing safety standards. Inspectors conduct site-specific safety inspections of railroads and monitor their compliance with federally mandated safety standards. Complementing this traditional approach to safety, the Office of Safety has created a comprehensive program in which participants work with FRA to identify and correct the root causes of problems across an entire railroad system. This Safety Assurance and Compliance Program emphasizes a safety-partnership approach to systemic problems, but it does not sacrifice enforcement tools, if necessary.

The Office of Safety also manages a substantial regulatory agenda, which includes items derived from Congressional mandates, as well as FRA’s own ideas, and issues raised by various partners in the railroad community. To ensure that regulations meet safety needs while providing flexibility to choose the means of implementation, we established the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee. The RSAC is a collaborative effort that provides us with consensus recommendations from the industry on a range of regulatory issues.

Primary Address

Federal Railroad Administration
Office of Railroad Safety Federal Railroad Administration,
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE,
Washington, DC 20590
Phone: (202) 493-6304
Web: http://www.fra.dot.gov

Region(s) Served

• National

Locations

• FRA - Washington Office
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE,
  Washington, DC 20590
  Phone: (202) 493-6014
  
  Contact: Federal Railroad Administration
  
  Web: http://www.fra.dot.gov
  …

Related Programs

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