WASHINGTON — Four House members have introduced a new version of the Railway Safety Act to mark the second anniversary of the East Palestine derailment that sparked the original legislation.
U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) and Michael Rulli (R-Ohio) are sponsoring the new version of the bill, introduced on Monday (Feb. 3, 2025). The original version, sponsored by Deluzio, was introduced in March 2023 [see “Railway Safety Act advances …,” Trains News Wire, May 10, 2023]. It eventually died in committee
The new version of the bill includes:
— Train-length limits for trains with hazardous materials;
— Establishment of a minimum time standard for railcar and locomotive inspections;;
— A requirement for the Department of Transportation to set standards for installation, repair, and operation of wayside defect detectors;
— A two-person crew requirement, with exceptions for small railroads;
— Greater penalties for violation of safety regulations;
— Phasing out of DOT-111 tank cars for flammable liquids by May 1, 2027;
— A $1 million fee for Class I railroads to support hazardous-material training for first responders;
— Authorization of $22 million in Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement grants for wayside detectors;
— A requirement of a study by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on safer tank cars, with authorization of $5 million for that study;
— A requirement that the transportation secretary report to Congress every two years on implementation of National Transportation Safety Board recommendations resulting from the East Palestine derailment.
The reporting requirement is a new feature of the 2025 version of the bill.
“We know we cannot trust the big railroads to regulate themselves,” Deluzio said in a press release. “That’s why this Congress we have to pass strong rail safety requirements and implement the safety recommendations from the NTSB. We have a bipartisan solution on the table, and now is the time for all who are serious about protecting our communities to step up.”
Said Rulli, “By enshrining the Federal Railroad Administration’s two-person crew rule into law, we are reinforcing critical safety standards and ensuring that vital protections are permanently upheld. This bipartisan legislation underscores our unwavering commitment to preventing catastrophic derailments and delivering the security and peace of mind that every American deserves.”
The full text of the bill is available here.
While we’re at in D.C., why not introduce legislation to mandate two drivers in long haul OTR…after all, it’s just safer with two drivers in the cab(sarcasm). Let us not worry about all of the operations world wide that safely operate with only one crew member in a locomotive cab at all times, or in some cases with NO/ZERO crew members because of autonomous operations(and no, I don’t care about the remoteness of the Australian iron ore rr’s, Rio Tinto is still autonomous, being in the middle of nowhere or not is beside the point).
The legislators are salivating at the thought of the swarm of railroad lobbyists about to decend upon them and shower them with campaign donations in an effort to defeat this latest incarnation of nonsense that’ll never roll a foot. (“Never get off of the ground” just seemed inappropriate here.)