Review - HR 7011 Introduced – Railcar PRD Report

Back in January Rep Deluzio (D,PA) introduced HR 7011, the Under Pressure Act. The bill would require DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to prepare a report to Congress on the rate and causes of rail tank car pressure relief device (PRD) failures in derailment events. No new funding is authorized by this legislation. 

I can find no legislation in the 118th Congress that would be similar to HR 7011. It would appear that this bill is related to the NTSB preliminary report about issues with pressure release devices during the February 2023 East Palestine train derailment. 

Moving Forward  

Deluzio is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill is assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered by the Committee. Since this is simply a report to Congress bill, I see nothing that would engender any organized opposition. I would suspect that there would be some level of bipartisan support for the bill, but it remains to be seen if there would be sufficient support for the bill to move to the floor of the House for consideration under the suspension of the rules process. 

For more information on the provisions of this bill, and a brief commentary on the current PRD regulatory requirements, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-7011-introduced-railcar-prd-report - subscription required.