USDOT Appoints Members to FTA’s TRACS

Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor

"Americans deserve to have the best rail system in the world, and the investments we are announcing today will serve to modernize the NEC for generations of passengers," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Dec. 22.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on Dec. 15 announced the appointment of 24 members to the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Transit Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS), which provides information, advice and recommendations on transit safety and other issues as determined by the Secretary of Transportation and the FTA Administrator.

According to the FTA, TRACS’s members, which will serve two-year terms, “reflect the geographic, size and issue diversity across the transit industry,” and includes individuals from large and small rail and bus operators, state safety oversight agencies, academia, non-profit organizations and labor unions from rural communities to America’s most populous cities.

Among the new committee members are Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Director of Operational Safety Edward Abel; American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Senior Director of Safety and Advisory Services Brian Alberts; Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Chief Safety Officer Donna Johnson; and Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI) Executive Director Rachel Maleh.

The additional committee members for the 2022-2024 term include:

“At the Department of Transportation, our top priority is ensuring the safety of every member of the traveling public, including the workforce,” said Secretary Buttigieg. “We look forward to working with the 24 members of TRACS–representing experts from large cities, small towns, academia, non-profits, organized labor, and more–to support the continued safety of public transit across America.”

TRACS meets as a full committee at least once a year. Meetings are announced in the Federal Register and are open to the public. The first meeting will be held in early 2023.

According to the FTA, since 2009, TRACS has provided “valuable recommendations on critical issues, such as establishing a Fatigue Management Program for the Bus and Rail Transit Industry and researching transit worker accidents and fatalities to better protect them in railway corridors.” The TRACS charter was renewed in February 2022. 

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