PHOENIX — A bill to limit the length of freight trains in the state of Arizona has cleared its first legislative hurdle, advancing through the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Friday by a 10-0 vote with one abstention.
HB 2531 would limit trains to 8,500 feet.
Capitol Media Services reports that Rep. Consuelo Hernandez, one of the bill’s sponsors, cited the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment and hazardous-materials incident during Friday’s committee hearing, noting that railroad employees have expressed concerns about the safety of long trains.
Hernandez (D-Tucson) also read a letter of support from Rep. Tim Dunn (R-Yuma), who cited incidents when trains have blocked grade crossings for up to 2 hours, leading to longer routes for first responders. “While 2-mile-long trains might be economic possibly in the future,” Dunn wrote in his letter, “they are not working with current infrastructure in Arizona.”
No railroad representatives testified at the committee meeting.
The bill is one of at least three similar measures introduced in state legislatures this year. An Iowa bill to limit trains to 8,500 feet advanced out of a subcommittee in January [see “Iowa legislation to limit train length …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 27, 2023]. A Virginia bill which included an 8,500-foot limit, along with a 5-minute limit on blocking grade crossings and other rules, was tabled by a subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce and Energy on Jan. 26, effectively killing it for this legislative session.
Every law student who took constitutional law is probably familiar with Southern Pacific vs. Arizona, a 1945 U.S. Supreme Court case that invalidated an Arizona train-length limit law. It said it was an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce, achieving a burden far greater than necessary to achieve Arizona’s legitimate interest in lowering the rate of train accidents. Indeed, it may have increased the rate of accidents due to the larger number of trains required.
I think most of the posters have missed the forest for the trees. As Matt Rose pointed out about other issues, if the railroads don’t control themselves in the interests of all their stakeholders which (as publicly chartered and in many cases assisted corporations running through and interacting with many political entities) include the general public through its elected representatives; the public will do it for them. My bet is that many of the folks in eastern Ohio who are hopping mad voted for Republicans and in no way could be considered liberals and the same goes for rural Arizona. The 19th century’s excesses brought about the levels of regulation that lasted until the 1970s/80s. They will come about again sooner rather than later if the industry does not look past Wall Street soon.
Legislators know nothing about trains and they likely have no jurisdiction over interstate commerce
It’s fun to say that the Fed’s or the courts will over rule this, but as more states take these kinds of actions the pressure will build for the Congress to take some sort of similar action on this issue along with the blocked crossing problem.
poster Harrison Weinberg…my rendition of chapter 13 is simply a meaning for any Bill(s) legislated to put a length limit on trains will be abruptly halted by current Federal law…
The one person is right about one thing…Arizona infrastructure isn’t set up to handle those kinds of delays, neither are most states. Perhaps it’s time the states start spending some money on grade separations, closing down crossing when you have to many to close together, etc., etc.,
Shortly after Arizona became a state its voters approved an initiative to limit trains to 70 cars. It tied up the Santa Fe for almost 40 years until the Supreme Court overturned it about 1946. It was probably a factor why the Santa Fe didn’t try any articulateds after its troubles with Mallets in the ‘teens.
“Consuelo Hernandez cited the East Palestine Ohio derailment blah blah blah”…it is becoming increasingly clear that a mechanical failure (overheated journal/axle) is the culprit in that derailment, not the length of the train…another waste of time for our legislature. There is such a thing as Federal law overseeing the railroads. This one will hit chapter 13 real quick.
Chapter 13?
True, length was not an issue in the initial cause of the derailment.
What the crew was trying to say, albeit at the wrong time, was the lengthy consist had suffered prior separations on its trip since origination. Buff and draft forces in the lengthy consist lead to break-in-twos.
The crew was able to cut off quickly, indicating the derailment was most likely near the front of the consist. What effect the ongoing buff forces of the stopping consist had on the severity of the derailment should come out in the NTSB report.
“2-mile-long trains might be economically possible in the future”…. Has this legislator not been keeping up with the fact that if it is a 2-mile-long train it is called a typical day? What rock has he been under? Especially living in Tucson. And then they go on to legislate the rest of our lives? We are doomed.
Complete waste of time and resources. If passed it’ll be overturned – federal law will prevail thus allowing the protracted grade crossing blocking.