Review - HR 1674 Introduced – Hazmat Train Safety

Last month Rep Deluzio (D,PA) introduced HR 1674, the Railway Safety Act of 2023. The bill provides a variety of potential improvements for the shipment of hazardous materials by rail. Various funds are authorized to support some of the program proposed. The bill is very similar to S 576 that was introduced the same day as this bill.

This is not technically a companion bill to S 576; there are too many differences in the wording of this bill for it to be a companion bill. There are no significant policy differences between the bills, just changes in language to increase the clarity of the bill’s intent.

Moving Forward

Neither Deluzio nor his sole cosponsor {Rep LaLota (R,NY)} are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which the bill was assigned for primary consideration. This means that there is probably not sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. As with the Senate version, I would expect to see significant Republican opposition to the provisions of the bill because of the increased burdens the bill would put on railroads and hazmat rail shippers. This bill would likely not be recommended favorably out of Committee without significant revisions to the requirements in the bill.

 

For details on the differences between HR 1674 and the Senate bill (S 576), see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-1674-introduced - subscription required.