Rail Safety: The Federal Railroad Administration Is Taking Steps to Better Target Its Oversight, but Assessment of Results Is Needed to Determine Impact
GAO-07-149
Published: Jan 26, 2007. Publicly Released: Jan 26, 2007.
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Highlights
Since 1980, the train accident rate has improved significantly, but progress has leveled off over the past 10 years. Recent serious accidents--such as one in Graniteville, South Carolina, that led to 9 deaths and 292 injuries--elevated concerns. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) develops safety standards and inspects and enforces railroads' compliance with these standards. This report addresses how FRA (1) focuses its efforts on the highest priority risks related to train accidents in planning its oversight, (2) identifies safety problems on railroad systems in carrying out its oversight, and (3) assesses the impact of its oversight efforts on safety. To complete this work, GAO reviewed FRA regulations, planning and policy documents, and safety data. GAO also contacted FRA officials in headquarters and three regional offices and others.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Transportation | To enhance FRA's ability to determine the extent to which its inspection and enforcement programs are contributing to rail safety and whether changes in these programs are needed, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator of FRA to develop and implement measures of the direct results of its inspection and enforcement programs. |
Closed – Not Implemented
In its April 2007 response, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) indicated that it concurred with this recommendation and planned to implement it. In January 2008, FRA officials provided an update, but their planned efforts did not fulfill the intent of our recommendation because they were focused on developing performance measures for a voluntary industry-wide risk management initiative rather than for the agency's inspection and enforcement programs. In following up again in June and August 2010, it became clear that FRA does not intend to develop new measures on inspection or enforcement results. FRA officials asked us to close this recommendation as "not implemented," explaining that developing new measures would not be feasible because of funding constraints and higher priority activities to address mandates in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. For example, travel funds are constrained, impacting the ability of inspectors to do follow-up inspections to determine if identified safety problems have been fixed.
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| Department of Transportation | To enhance FRA's ability to determine the extent to which its inspection and enforcement programs are contributing to rail safety and whether changes in these programs are needed, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator of FRA to evaluate the agency's enforcement program to provide further information on its results, the need for additional data to measure and assess these results, and the need for any changes in this program to improve performance. |
Closed – Implemented
In January 2007, we recommended that the Secretary of Transportation direct the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to evaluate its enforcement program to provide further information on its results, the need for any additional data to measure and assess these results, and the need for any changes in this program to improve performance. In May 2010, FRA provided us with the results of an independent review of the effectiveness its use of civil penalties in enforcing railroad safety. Civil penalties are FRA's most commonly used enforcement tool. (For example, in our review we had found that, of the 9023 enforcement actions taken by the agency between January 2005 and July 2006, 8612 were civil penalties.) This review, conducted by the Ventura Group in 2009, fulfills our recommendation. Specifically, it provides information on the results of FRA's enforcement efforts and the data that is available to measure and assess these results. It does not identify the need for any changes in the enforcement program to improve performance because it concludes that FRA's safety program as a whole, including its use of civil penalties, is highly effective. This conclusion is based on improvements in train accident rates over time since the study found that it was not possible to measure the effects of individual civil penalties.
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Topics
Accident preventionAccidentsAgency evaluationInspectionPerformance measuresPolicy evaluationRailroad accidentsRailroad industryRailroad regulationRailroad safetyRailroad switchesRailroad tracksRisk managementSafety regulationSafety standardsStrategic planningTransportationHighway traffic control systemsRailroad grade crossingsGovernment agency oversightPolicies and proceduresProgram goals or objectives