The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is responsible for the safety and efficiency of rail transportation in the United States. As part of the Department of Transportation (DOT), FRA sought to develop an integrated information technology architecture that supports their business needs and integrates with the DOT. EIC analyzed and reengineered the FRA’s Information Technology Architecture in accordance with Section 1 of the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework adopted by the Federal CIO council. The FRA consists of a Headquarters Office in Washington DC and eight regional offices located throughout the country. The offices currently communicate over a partial mesh frame relay network. EIC surveyed the LAN and WAN environment within and among these offices. We prepared a report of survey findings detailing the existing IT architecture with respect to data, applications, and technology.

EIC defined the target architecture for FRA’s IT infrastructure. We defined hardware and software standards for desktops and servers. We developed target models for FRA LANs and their WAN. This includes a recommendation to consolidate voice, data, and video over an ATM WAN. We assessed and recommended improvements to FRA’s networking hardware and communication equipment, network management tools, IP addressing scheme, Internet services, remote access services, and security. EIC documented the FRA’s strategic information technology direction and current and target models for data, applications, and technology in the FRA Information Technology Architecture Design and Implementation Plan. Included in this plan were transitional processes that define the steps required to implement the recommended upgrades. EIC provided cost estimates for each of the recommendations and an implementation timeline in the form of a GANTT chart.