Review - HR 971 Introduced – RAIL Act

Last month Rep Sykes introduced HR 971, the Reducing Accidents In Locomotives (RAIL) Act. This is another in a series of legislative attempts to address the railroad hazardous material safety concerns that arose after the East Palestine derailment. Addresses a number of different issues and includes additional funding authorization for first responder hazmat training.

The bill is very similar to HR 1633 that was introduced by Rep Johnson (R,OH) in March of 2023, and cosponsored by Sykes. No action was taken on that bill in the 118^th Congress. Section 4 of this bill is an almost complete rewrite of the same section of the earlier bill and a new §9, Freight train crew size safety standards, has been added. The language in this added section is the same as proposed by Sykes in HR 9074, introduced in July 2024. No action was taken on that bill in the 118^th Congress.

The bill addresses the following topics:

• Regulatory response,

• Rail car inspections,

• Defect detectors,

• Increasing civil penalties,

• Safer tank cars,

• First responder hazmat training, and

• Freight train crew size.

Moving Forward

Sykes is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. Unfortunately the Republican leadership is not going to be too interested in increasing regulatory controls in this session. I do not expect that the bill will be considered in Committee and likely would not be approved if it were.

 

For more details about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-971-introduced - subscription required.

Review - HR 1633 Introduced – RAIL Act

Last month, Rep Johnson (R,OH) introduced HR 1633, the Reducing Accidents in Locomotives (RAIL) Act. Another in a series of legislative attempts to address the railroad hazardous material safety concerns that arose after the East Palestine derailment. Addresses a number of different issues and includes additional funding authorization for first responder hazmat training.

The bill addresses the following topics.

• Regulatory response,

• Rail car inspections,

• Defect detectors,

• Increasing civil penalties,

• Safer tank cars, and

• First responder hazmat training

Moving Forward

Johnson is not a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration, but one of his ten cosponsors {Rep Sykes (D,OH)} is a member of the Committee. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. This bill appears to have been crafted to avoid some of the Republican opposition to rail safety measures and that is reflected in the number of Republicans who have signed on to the bill sponsored by a Republican. I still think that the additional $1 million dollar hazmat registration fee being proposed for Class 1 Railroads will bring significant Republican opposition, but the other compromises may be enough to see this move forward in Committee with some level of bipartisan support (and bipartisan opposition), but I do not think that the support will be wide enough to allow the bill to be considered under the suspension of rules process.

 

For more details about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-1633-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 3-17-23

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate meeting in pro forma session, there were 60 bills introduced. Four of those bills may receive additional attention in this blog:

HR 1623 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to exclude certain propane storage facilities from certain chemical security standards under the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. Finstad, Brad [Rep.-R-MN-1] 

HR 1633 To enhance safety requirements for trains transporting hazardous materials, and for other purposes. Johnson, Bill [Rep.-R-OH-6] 

HR 1648 To establish a grant program for use of "internet of things" technologies in airports, and for other purposes. Nehls, Troy E. [Rep.-R-TX-22]

HR 1665 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a program to provide grants to local governments to install publicly accessible safety charging stations for electric bicycles and scooters, and for other purposes. Velazquez, Nydia M. [Rep.-D-NY-7]

I will be covering HR 1623 and HR 1633.

I will be watching HR 1648 and HR 1665 for language and definitions that would specifically include cybersecurity requirements within the scope of the requirements of the legislation.