2.2 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA

According to FRA, current funding levels enable the agency to meet the most pressing needs for safety-related R&D, but additional funding would provide opportunities to expand university R&D programs, strengthen research collaboration, help address future workforce education demands, and develop new technologies and testing facilities to support next-generation railroading. FRA could also help create and sustain more domestic suppliers and jobs and expand its efforts in energy, the environment and rail transportation efficiency.28

FRA Collaboration in Working Groups and Committees The primary industry body dealing with safety matters that FRA participates in is the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC). Established by the Secretary of Transportation in 1996 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, RSAC is made up of 40 representatives from 29 member organizations representing various rail industry perspectives, including Class I, short-line and regional freight railroads, Amtrak, commuter railroads, various labor groups, suppliers, and advocates for rail shippers and passengers. Its task is to provide recommendations to the FRA Administrator. RSAC was dormant for a brief period from May 2017 to October 2018.29 Its charter is typically renewed every two years and was most recently renewed through October 2022. It meets at the call of the FRA Administrator. It last met in April 2019 and no future meeting has been scheduled as of this writing.30

Data Collection Federal regulations require FRA-regulated railroads to report specific sets of safetyrelated data to the agency, including accidents and incidents meeting certain thresholds in terms of people killed or injured or dollar value of damage caused, inventory, and highway-rail grade crossing data. This information is compiled and made available to the public online by the Office of Safety Analysis (OSA), a branch of FRA’s Office of Safety. The reports published by OSA include basic operational data such as total trainmiles operated and employee hours worked, one-year and ten-year accident & incident overviews sorted by type and probable cause, employee on duty and trespasser casualties, and accident and casualty rates and trends. All this data can be searched and sorted by state, FRA region, individual railroad, railroad size and type, and other criteria.31

2.2 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

The extent of the FHWA’s involvement in rail safety is its role in administering the Section 130 Railway-Highway Crossings Program, which provides funds for the elimination of hazards at all public grade crossings, including roadways, bicycle trails and pedestrian paths. These funds are distributed to state departments of transportation according to a formula, with states funding each grade crossing improvement project