The Carter Center - Carter Center Weekend 2021 Digital Event

Bose becomes the 15th administrator of the FRA and will be the first person of South-Asian descent to serve in the position. He was born in Laheriasarai, Bihar, India, before coming to the United States at age five. As administrator, Bose will lead FRA’s safety regulatory oversight of more than 800 freight and passenger railroads, national rail policy, planning and environmental activities, as well as the agency’s financial assistance grant programs. Bose will also oversee FRA programs to improve and modernize the nation’s freight and passenger rail network by administering the $66 billion investment in rail projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Those funds will be supplemented by an additional $36 billion in annual authorized appropriations over five years to support projects and programs that improve safety, reliability, efficiency, resiliency, equity and sustainability. https://reason.org/wp-content/uploads/Letter-from-Senators-to-Amit-Bose.pdf Dear Deputy Administrator Bose: WASHINGTON, DC 20510 October 29, 2021 A critical step in the utilization of new technologies is the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) waivers and testing programs, which provide the freight rail industry the opportunity to achieve the next level of track, equipment, and employee safety improvements. An example of the safety benefits of the waivers and testing programs is the automated track inspection (A TI) test programs/waivers. A TI inspections are conducted using track geometry technology installed in freight cars or on locomotives that test each foot of track. These automated systems are changing the nature of track inspection. An automated approach involves gathering massive amounts of data and analyzing it for patterns and warning signs, empowering a shift from reactive to preventative track maintenance practices. These automated test systems improve the nature of railroad track inspections and can increase track safety. An important component of at least one of the recent A TI pilot testing and waiver approvals allowed for an increase in the frequency of automated track inspections in place of visual inspections. This approach proved key to facilitating a better understanding of the optimal balance between A TI and visual inspections. This tremendous amount of data collected shows that the data-driven fusion of A TI and visual inspections is producing a superior safety outcome, with track employees' hours being reallocated to verifying and remedying the greater number of defects detected by A TI rather than conducting redundant visual inspections. The results of the ATI programs have overwhelmingly proven the safety benefits of the concept. In some cases, the A TI tests have resulted in an over 90 percent reduction in unprotected main track defects per 100 miles tested. Even with a proven track record of success, FRA has allowed several of these A TI programs to expire in recent months despite requests to continue and expand them. In one case, FRA declined to extend one railroad's program because it found that continuing the test would not yield new, significant data. If this delay is due to FRA's satisfaction with the A TI data collected to date, please indicate what next steps FRA is considering to further enable use of this safety technology, such as going through the rulemaking process to update the half-century-old track inspection regulations. If FRA seeks additional supporting data, please indicate when the Safety Board will return to its long practice of timely reviewing waiver and test program requests to allow the nation's rail industry to advance. Significant safety improvement opportunities are present now, and urge you to embrace these opportunities to improve safety through the FRA's appropriate and timely handling of waiver and test program submissions. We look forward to your response and to working with you further on this and other issues to improve railroad safety. go to letter at the link to see the senators who sighned to REWduce Railroad Safty. ( BY SUBTERFUGE)