As Deputy Administrator, Ms. Rae is responsible for overseeing operations for the nearly eight hundred-person organization. This includes managing comprehensive safety programs and regulatory initiatives; enforcement of FRA safety regulations; development and implementation of national freight and passenger rail policy; and oversight of research and development activities in support of improved railroad safety.

Ms. Rae will play a leading role in the FRA’s efforts to successfully implement the President’s commitment to advance the development of high-speed rail and implement the Administration’s public policy directive to improve intercity passenger rail.

Prior to joining the Federal Railroad Administration, Ms. Rae served since 2007 as Deputy Commissioner of Policy and Planning at the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). She also served as Deputy Secretary for Local and Area Transportation at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in 2006, where she supported the State’s Funding and Reform Commission on transit issues and created a new streamlined performance based funding program for transit.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Rae worked for 18 years as director or general manager of transit systems in Austin, Texas, Glens Falls and Buffalo, New York.