Review – HR 2515 Introduced – Railcar Telematics

Back in March Rep Nehls (R,TX) introduced HR 2515, the American Tank Car Modernization Act of 2025. The bill would require the DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to establish a grant program to provide funds to freight railcar owners or operators to purchase and install onboard freight railcar telematics systems. The bill would authorize $100 million per year through 2029 to support the grant program. The bill would also require FRA to establish a telematics development pilot program, with $10 million in spending authorization through 2029.

Moving Forward

Both Nehls and his sole cosponsor, Rep Moulton (D,MA), are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to which this bill was assigned for primary consideration. This means that there could be enough influence to see the bill considered by that committee. The main impediment to this bill moving forward is that amount of new funding that would be authorized. In this Congress any new spending will have a higher bar than even normal for leadership to move forward with consideration. I do not expect that this bill would clear that bar.

Commentary

I certainly support the concepts put forth in this proposed legislation and I believe that the funding levels are certainly justified and perhaps should be expanded. I do, however, think that the crafters of this bill have missed three important sensors that should have been included in the §3 program:

Internal pressure measurement,

Operation of pressure relief devices, and

Toxic and/or flammable gas sensors.

These devices in particular should be capable of operation after a derailment. Most importantly, the readings from these devices would need to be accessible by first responders.

 

For more information on the provisions of the bill, including links to a related bill that was introduced in the 118^th Congress, and additional commentary on who may participate in the pilot program, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-2515-introduced-railcar-telematics - subscription required.