The primary mission of the SIDT is to manage the Office of Safety’s Technical Training Program for the 600 Federal and participating State railroad safety inspectors and specialists of the five technical disciplines (Hazardous Materials, Motive Power and Equipment, Operating Practices, Signal and Train Control, and Track). To accomplish this mission, the team designs, develops, and delivers specialized internal courses, and administers contract training from external sources as necessary.

Technical training is based on organizational needs and, therefore, is considered mandatory. Various types of analyses are performed to determine the organizational needs, including feedback from Headquarters, the regions, and the inspectors. Each year, the SIDT develops a catalog of courses and a training calendar of formal classroom training. The training calendar specifies other events funded from the technical training budget, such as multi-regional conferences (State travel) and participating State manager meetings. On average, the team manages approximately 45 classes in 22 different courses of study each year.

The training is intended for internal customers. Although we may invite people from the NTSB, Transport Canada, etc., to attend on occasion, we do not provide training for external customers from other governmental or civilian organizations.

The SIDT also develops, implements, and monitors a formal on-the-job training program for new safety inspectors and inspector trainees. The eight FRA regions are responsible for actual implementation of the on-the-job training program.

Other responsibilities of the SIDT include:

1.  Managing a contractor program to ensure that all railroad safety laws, regulations, compliance      manuals, technical bulletins, and other documents needed by Office of Safety employees are      available in an easy to use CD ROM-based program.

2.   Scheduling and managing three multi-regional conferences biennially.

3.   Managing the Regional Inspection Points (RIP) program. This program:

      a.  Provides the Office of Safety with profiles of railroad operations in each State and county;
      b.  Provides safety inspectors and regional managers with a detailed listing of inspection points;
          and
      c.  Serves as a model for allocating inspector staff.

4.  Development and delivery of specialized training to Office of Safety administrative employees
     responsible for managing the RIP and accident investigation databases.

5.  Facilitating Technical Resolution Committee (TRC) meetings for each discipline. The TRC process
    is designed to develop and disseminate interpretations to regulatory questions asked by the
    railroad industry (labor and management), safety inspectors, and FRA regional managers. The
    resolved issues are released as technical bulletins.

6.  Evaluation of the general and discipline-specific compliance manuals, with a goal of ensuring
    inspection task guidelines are clearly defined.

7.  Formal workforce planning efforts for Federal railroad safety inspectors, including management
    of specialized training efforts for topics that bridge gaps between technical
    and non-technical training (such as report writing, specialized computer programs, behaviors,
    values, attitudes, etc.).

8.  Improvement and development of internal processes that are necessary for the Office of Safety
    to meet program goals and objectives.


Safety Improvement and Development Team Contact Information