FRA provides regulatory oversight of the safety of U.S. railroads, both  passenger and freight. The Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA) of 2008 was the first  authorization of FRA’s safety activities since 1994 and is due to be  reauthorized in 2013. RSIA overhauled federal rail safety requirements  by directing the FRA to, among other things, promulgate additional new  rail safety regulations and guidance in areas such as railroad risk  reduction plans, track inspections standards, and highway-rail grade  crossing safety. PTC is a communication-based system designed to prevent some  accidents caused by human factors, including train-to-train collisions and  derailments caused by exceeding safe speeds. FRA’s Rail Safety Framework Includes Data to Inform Its Rail Safety Oversight Efforts but Faces Potential Oversight Challenges

		FRA’s Oversight Framework Primarily Uses Federal and State Inspectors to Oversee Railroad Safety Efforts

Our work to date indicates that FRA primarily monitors railroads’  compliance with federal safety regulations through routine inspections by  individual inspectors at specific sites on railroads’ systems. Our preliminary work has found that thirty states also employ railroad  safety inspectors, who participate in a partnership program with FRA to  conduct safety oversight activities, supplemental to FRA’s activities,  based on FRA rail safety regulations and to enforce state railroad safety  laws. FRA is also  responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for commuter  railroads and Amtrak. In 2006, FRA implemented a risk-based approach, using its National  Inspection Plan (NIP), to allocate its limited inspection resources to  ensure rail safety. FRA has also developed the Staffing Allocation Model (SAM), which is a  planning and evaluation tool used to assess its inspection resources from  a nationwide perspective. FRA officials also told us that while the SAM model  has been refined based on what they have learned from making  improvements to the NIP, the SAM is not designed to take into account  certain changes—such as increasing freight train volume or accidents in a  particular region—as the SAM uses past accident data to provide a  baseline for the nationwide distribution of its inspectors. However, FRA  regional officials we talked to stated that the staffing decisions based on  SAM results do not necessarily align their inspectors with their  perspective of the needs in their region nor does it take a region’s  geography into account. FRA Faces Several Potential Challenges to Its Rail Safety Oversight Mission

Based on our work to date, we have identified several potential  challenges affecting FRA’s rail safety oversight, including lack of a final  rule requiring the submission of Risk Reduction Plans by specified  railroads, lack of succession planning to ensure sufficient staff numbers  and expertise, and other ongoing and emerging challenges. RSIA required FRA to develop a rulemaking requiring certain railroads to  submit risk reduction plans, within 4 years of enactment, which was  October 2012. Our work to date has found that FRA does not yet have a specific plan to  replace its aging inspector workforce. According to FRA officials, in the  next 5 years, 150 of FRA’s 470 inspectors (about 32 percent) will be  eligible to retire. For example,  FRA regional officials stated that it takes about 1 to 2 years to find, hire,  train, and certify a new experienced inspector and 3 to 4 years to get an  inexperienced trainee certified by FRA as a qualified inspector. Developing PTC components and PTC installation: Some PTC  components are still in development—most notably the PTC back- office server. One or more of these servers will be installed in over a  dozen railroads’ back offices and are needed to communicate vital  information between the back office, locomotives, and waysides. In addition, PTC installation is a time- and  resource-consuming process. Most of the freight  railroads we spoke with expressed concern with the reliability of PTC  and emphasized the importance of field testing to ensure the system  performs the way it is intended. FRA resources: Although most railroads we spoke with said they have  worked closely with FRA throughout the PTC implementation process,  some railroads cited concerns with FRA’s limited resources and the  agency’s ability to help facilitate railroads’ PTC implementation. First, FRA officials must verify  the field testing of PTC. Our work to date also indicates that by attempting to implement PTC by  the 2015 deadline, railroads may be making choices that could introduce  financial and operational risks to PTC implementation. Representatives  from freight railroads and FRA told us railroads will not compromise the  safety functions of the PTC system and will ensure that PTC is  implemented meeting RSIA requirements. These representatives noted that without adequate testing,  PTC systems could potentially malfunction or fail more frequently,  causing system disruptions.
Why GAO Did This Study

The rail network is one of Americas safest modes of transportation, although several recent rail accidents have reinforced the need for constant effort from the private and public sectors to ensure safety for rail passengers, the public, and railroad employees. FRA, the federal agency responsible for railroad safety, works with freight, commuter, and intercity passenger railroads and certain states to ensure the safety of the U.S. railroad network.
In 2007, FRA developed and implemented a risk-based approach to its safety inspections of the railroad network. In 2008, RSIA was enacted and, among other things, reauthorized FRAs rail safety program and included several new rail safety provisions, such as the implementation of PTC and creation of rail safety risk reduction plans.
This statement discusses GAOs preliminary observations about 1) how FRA oversees rail safety, 2) challenges to rail safety, and 3) PTC implementation by the U.S. rail industry. GAO examined FRAs overall rail safety framework and interviewed state rail safety officials and officials from FRA; selected Class I, II, and III railroads; and Amtrak on rail safety and PTC implementation.
GAO plans to issue reports on reviews of rail safety and PTC in the fall of 2013.

What GAO Found

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) primarily monitors railroads' compliance with federal safety regulations through routine inspections by individual inspectors at specific sites on railroads' systems. Thirty states also employ railroad safety inspectors, who participate in a partnership program with FRA to conduct supplemental safety oversight activities based on FRA rail safety regulations and enforce state railroad safety laws. FRA applies a quantitative, risk-based approach, the National Inspection Plan, to inform its rail safety oversight efforts using analyses of past accident and inspection data and other information to target inspections in each region. FRA also uses a planning and evaluation tool, the Staffing Allocation Model (SAM), to distribute its inspection resources across each FRA region. However, according to several FRA regional administrators that GAO spoke with, the staffing decisions based on SAM results do not necessarily align with their perspectives on the inspector needs for their regions.
Based on GAO's work to date, there are several potential challenges affecting FRA's rail safety oversight. First, the Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA) required FRA to issue regulations requiring certain railroads to submit risk reduction plans within 4 years. FRA has not yet issued a final rule on the plans. Second, FRA does not have a specific plan to replace its aging inspector workforce. According to FRA officials, in the next 5 years, about 32 percent of FRA inspectors will be eligible to retire. Although FRA officials said that they anticipate being able to replace inspectors, it can take 1 to 2 years to find, hire, train, and certify a new inspector. Finally, FRA faces other ongoing and emerging safety challenges like addressing adverse weather conditions and their impact on railroad operations and equipment, educating the public on the potential hazards of rail-highway crossings, accommodating changes in rail safety risks including new freight flows that affect the need for inspections, and hiring and training a specialized inspector workforce to provide adequate safety oversight for emerging technologies including positive train control (PTC), a communications-based system designed to prevent train accidents caused by human factors.
GAO's work to date indicates that railroads may not be able to fully implement PTC by the 2015 deadline established in RSIA. This is because of the many interrelated challenges caused by the complexity and breadth of PTC implementation. For example, PTC components, such as the back office servers, which are needed to communicate vital information between locomotives and wayside signals, are still under development. In addition, the need to integrate PTC components and field test the system is a time- and resource-consuming process. Finally, some railroads had concerns with FRA's limited resources and ability to verify field testing and certify the system once it is fully implemented. Officials from freight railroads and FRA stated they will not compromise PTC safety functions and will ensure PTC is implemented to meet the requirements of the RSIA mandate. However, in attempting to implement PTC by the 2015 deadline, railroads may be making choices that could introduce financial and operational risks. For example, freight railroad representatives told us that without adequate time for field testing, PTC systems could potentially malfunction or fail more frequently, causing system disruptions.