The Federal Railroad Administration recently finalized the transition to a new, more user-friendly online public safety data website as required by Section 22405 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or IIJA of 2021.
[Above photo by the FRA]
The agency said the public can more easily find information using the new website, which was designed by a group including stakeholders from FRA, railroad companies, industry associations, state departments of transportation, and researchers.
“Our new public FRA safety data website increases transparency which is a Trump administration priority,” said FRA Acting Administrator Drew Feeley in a statement. “The new capabilities being introduced will afford users significantly more flexibility when querying our railroad safety data.”
The new site replaces two older legacy websites, one of which dates back decades. FRA’s previous Office of Safety Analysis website was developed in the 1990s and contained approximately 30 pre-made reports with limited ability for users to customize their queries.
Now, the new public site incorporates those 30 reports and more into an interactive website that tells a more detailed story about the data using a combination of data tables, visuals, and narrative components.
The FRA said users of the new site can select exactly the data they need through easy-to-operate controls like dropdown filters and parameters and then adjust how the reports display results; by, for example, sorting results by different columns in ascending or descending order.
The agency also noted that users will also find vastly improved site navigation including: descriptive report titles and summaries to make it easier to find data; streamlined reports that reduce multiple tables to one table per report; expanded and standardized filter options across reports to help users find relevant data; and more links to pages to help users navigate more quickly. It also includes numerous resource links providing users with greater explanation of data queries.
FRA added that it will continually update the site in 2025 and beyond, incorporating feedback received from stakeholders.
