                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

RESPONSIBILITIES OF DEPARTMENT OF RAIL AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION (§ 33.2-285)

The Department of Rail and Public Transportation has the responsibility to:

1. Determine present and future needs for, and economic feasibility of
providing, public transportation, transportation demand management, and
ridesharing facilities and services and the retention, improvement, and addition
of passenger and freight rail transportation in the Commonwealth;

2. Formulate and implement plans and programs for the establishment,
improvement, development and coordination of public transportation,
transportation demand management, and ridesharing facilities and services, and
the development, retention, and improvement of passenger and freight rail
transportation services and corridors in the Commonwealth, including lines for
higher speed passenger rail that will shift traffic from the highways to
passenger rail and thereby reduce traffic congestion, and coordinate
transportation demand management and innovative technological transportation
initiatives with the Department of Transportation;

3. Coordinate with the Department of Transportation in the conduct of research,
policy analysis, and planning for the rail and public transportation modes as
may be appropriate to alleviate traffic congestion on highways by shifting
traffic to passenger rail and to ensure the provision of effective, safe, and
efficient public transportation and passenger and freight rail services in the
Commonwealth;

4. Develop uniform financial and operating data on and criteria for evaluating
all public transportation activities in the Commonwealth, develop specific
methodologies for the collection of such data by public transit operators,
regularly and systematically verify such data by means of financial audits and
periodic field reviews of operating data collection methodologies, and develop
such other information as may be required to evaluate the performance and
improve the economy or efficiency of public transit or passenger and freight
rail operations, transportation demand management programs, and ridesharing in
the Commonwealth;

5. Compile and maintain an up-to-date inventory of all abandoned railroad
corridors in the Commonwealth abandoned after January 1, 1970;

6. Provide training and other technical support services to transportation
operators and ridesharing coordinators as may be appropriate to improve public
transportation, ridesharing, and passenger and freight rail services;

7. Maintain liaison with state, local, district, and federal agencies or other
entities, private and public, having responsibilities for passenger and freight
rail, transportation demand management, ridesharing, and public transportation
programs;

8. Receive, administer, and allocate all planning, operating, capital, and any
other grant programs from the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal
Railroad Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and other agencies
of the United States government for public transportation, passenger and freight
rail transportation, transportation demand management, and ridesharing purposes
with approval of the Board and to comply with all conditions attendant thereto;

9. Administer all state grants for public transportation, rail transportation,
ridesharing, and transportation demand management purposes with approval of the
Board;

10. Promote the use of public transportation, transportation demand management,
ridesharing, and passenger and freight rail services to improve the mobility of
Virginia&#8217;s citizens and the transportation of goods;

11. Represent the Commonwealth on local, regional, and national agencies,
industry associations, committees, task forces, and other entities, public and
private, having responsibility for passenger and freight rail, transportation
demand management, ridesharing, and public transportation;

12. Represent the Commonwealth&#8217;s interests in passenger and freight rail,
transportation demand management, ridesharing, and public transportation and
coordinate with the Department of Transportation in the planning, location,
design, construction, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, purchase, and
rehabilitation of facilities and services that affect or are used by passenger
and freight rail, transportation demand management, ridesharing, or public
transportation;

13. Coordinate with the State Corporation Commission on all matters dealing with
rail safety inspections and rail regulations that fall within its purview;

14. Prepare and review state legislation and Commonwealth recommendations on
federal legislation and regulations as directed by the Secretary of
Transportation;

15. Promote public transportation, ridesharing, and passenger and freight rail
safety; and

16. Ensure the safety of rail fixed guideway transit systems within the
Commonwealth and carry out state safety and security oversight responsibilities
for rail fixed guideway transit systems as required by the Federal Transit
Administration and federal law. For any rail fixed guideway transit system
operated within the Commonwealth pursuant to an interstate compact, the
Department of Rail and Public Transportation shall perform its oversight
responsibilities in accordance with the interstate compact governing the
operation of such system and any applicable federal law.

HISTORY: 1992, c. 167, § 33.1-391.5; 2002, c. 355; 2007, c. 435; 2009, c. 146;
2013, c. 211; 2014, c. 805.