Review of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Research and Development Program (2020) / Chapter Skim
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1 Summary The Transportation Research Board (TRB) formed the Committee for a Review of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA's)
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2 REVIEW OF FRA'S R&D PROGRAM from FRA incident data. A theme that characterizes the Track and Structures Division's (Track Division's)
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SUMMARY 3 the safety of passenger railcars and in the Human Factors Division through dedicated funding for the Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI) , which seeks to measure and improve the safety culture of short line and regional railroads.
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4 REVIEW OF FRA'S R&D PROGRAM will have application in the field. Advance planning to assure widespread deployment capability is also evident in the selection of projects and by the frequent partnering of research contractors with industry.
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SUMMARY 5 for and balance of multiple interests when programming research. It also observes that because of this wide span of interest, industry consultation, communication, and collaboration are critical to ensuring that the division's research capacity is used to its greatest advantage.
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6 REVIEW OF FRA'S R&D PROGRAM of the FY 2018–2022 strategic plan was pending internal review, and thus might not be available during the study period. On the basis of these briefings and limited document reviews, as well as insights gleaned about the effectiveness of these support functions from the division reviews, the committee offers the following observations and advice with respect to RD&T's strategic planning, communications, and evaluation support functions.
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SUMMARY 7 into the plan at a formative stage is essential, but not evident in the FY 2013–2017 strategic plan. RD&T should engage in ongoing strategic planning that not only articulates agency priorities, strategies for pursuing them, and justifications for its programs and budgets, but also clearly defines the support functions that are its responsibility and explains how those functions will be implemented.
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8 REVIEW OF FRA'S R&D PROGRAM Communications Both in planning documents and from discussions with senior management, stakeholder communications was described as integral to the program because of the benefits for priority setting, project management, and dissemination and communication of research results. Providing multiple channels for the broad array of stakeholders to communicate their research needs was characterized as critical to ensuring that the right problems are being targeted for research and that appropriate research mechanisms and procurement methods are being used.
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SUMMARY 9 by the management team would be advantageous, such as in providing resources for staff travel and participation in industry conferences and for convening annual, multi-day stakeholder workshops for sharing research results, identifying and prioritizing research needs, and exploring opportunities for collaboration in the conduct of research and in the demonstration and deployment of research results. Evaluation RD&T senior leadership and its divisions depend on close connections with stakeholders to ensure that the work is relevant, remains on course, and has impact when completed.
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