OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma state legislator has announced plans for a bill to limit train lengths within the state.
State Rep. Ty Burns (R-Pawnee) says the legislation, to be introduced at the start of the upcoming legislative session in February, will seek to cap train length at 8,500 feet, KOKI-TV reports.
“The infrastructure that the railroad companies have for this isn’t sustainable for the length of trains that they are running,” Burns told the station. “… Some of these trains are 15,000 feet long and their yards are not able to withstand that length … so they’re backed up all the way on the tracks, which are pushing trains to hold off in the middle of nowhere.” He said people in rural communities are “trapped for hours” because of trains that are “clogged up at the end of the yard.”
Burns has previously introduced legislation that would require two-person crews within the state. That bill, HB1075, was introduced in 2023 and died in committee.
Now me, I wouldn’t specify a specific length. My bill as a legislator would require that a train can be no longer than the shortest “passing siding” on its scheduled route. On double track, that would be the distance between crossovers. Still illegal, but it makes more sense to help speed train flow from origin to destination.
Usually, you will get a few state attorney general’s together to gang up on the offending party, but since there probably isn’t a payout involved (like cigarettes), they aren’t interested.
Yes, this is a Federal issue. However, squeaky wheels sometimes get grease. If enough squeaky wheels show up in Washington, Congress, or unelected bureaucrats, will enact or implement some kind of law or rule.
Please forgive my cynicism. Do these supposedly learned legislators not pay any attention to precedent? This has been advanced multiple times by several different state legislatures only to be shot down by federal law.
Either political grandstanding or gross stupidity going on here.
Sounds like another wasted time and attendance political dream too me.
Wouldn’t train length on trains running as interstate commerce fall exclusively under federal regulation? Not a legal expert, so I’m asking the readership.