Review – HR 7338 Introduced – RSAC Codification

Earlier this month Rep Sykes (D,OH) introduced HR 7338, the Railroad Safety and Accountability Act. The bill would codify the establishment and operation of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) which was established by DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in 1996. It would amend 49 USC by adding a new §20122, Railroad Safety Advisory Committee. The bill would authorize “such funds as would be necessary” from the Highway Trust Fund for the operations of the RSAC.

The RSAC was effectively terminated in August of 2025 as part of the Administration’s efforts to recraft advisory committees to reflect their policy agendas. In January 2026, the FRA announced the reestablishment of the Charter for the RSAC in the Federal Register. There are not yet any members appointed to the ‘new’ RSAC.

Moving Forward

Sykes is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill is assigned for consideration. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. While the provisions of this bill would appear to be relatively uncontroversial, I suspect that there may be some Administration push-back because of a perceived criticism of how they mistreated the previous RSAC. Still, I expect that this bill would receive some level of bipartisan support were it to be considered, but I am not confident that it would be sufficient to allow the bill to be considered by the full House under the suspension of the rules process.

Commentary

Advisory committees like RSAC provide regulatory agencies with an invaluable tool to help them develop workable regulatory schemes to deal with a wide variety of safety and security issues. The varied backgrounds and agendas of the members provide the parent agency with a variety of perspectives that are not available in-house. This helps those agencies avoid unanticipated problems with the publish and comment process of regulatory development.

 

For more information on the provisions of this bill, including additional commentary on Congress utilizing the expertise of advisory committees, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-7338-introduced-rsac-codification - subscription required.

FRA Announces RSAC Meeting – 04-07-16

Today the DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (81 FR 14515-14516) for a public meeting of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee in Washington, DC on April 7^th 2016. The RSAC was formed to develop new regulatory standards, through a collaborative process, with all segments of the rail community working together to fashion mutually satisfactory solutions on safety regulatory issues.

Status reports will be presented by the following working groups (links are for the task statements for the working gourp - .PDF download):

• Remote Control Locomotive;

• Track Standards;

• Hazardous Materials Issues; and

• Rail Integrity

While this is a public meeting, there is nothing in the notice that would indicate that feedback from the public, either oral or written, will be accepted for this meeting.

FRA Submits Securement NPRM to OMB

On Thursday (I’ve been on the road so I’m catching up on stuff) the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) concerning the securement of unattended equipment. This rulemaking was not covered in the Spring 2014 Unified Agenda, but it does not take any great imagination or regulatory insight to guess that this will address the train securement problems identified in the Canadian crude oil train catastrophe last year.

At the very least we can expect that the proposed rule will codify the requirements set out in Emergency Order #28. It remains to be seen if the rulemaking will go beyond those requirements. Back in April the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee approved draft language (.PDF File) for a rulemaking on this subject, but there is no requirement for DOT to use that consensus language.

FRA to Issue Train Crew Size and Securement NPRMs

A press release yesterday from the DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) indicated that they intend to issue proposed rules requiring two-person train crews on crude oil trains and establishing minimum crew size standards for most main line freight and passenger rail operations. A probable second rule making would address unattended freight trains or standing freight cars on main track or sidings and require railroads to adopt and implement procedures to verify securement of trains and unattended equipment for emergency responders.

Crew Size

After the Lac-Mégantic derailment last year one of the actions taken by the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee was the establishment of a working group to look at potential regulations for establishing minimum train crew size requirements. At the most recent meeting of the RSAC a presentation was made by that working group concerning the work that they had done to date.

While the RSAC is extremely slow in posting the minutes from their meetings, the FRA press release notes that the Working Group was unable to reach a consensus on the minimum crew size requirements. In the absence of a consensus recommendation the FRA is developing its own proposed requirements. According to the press release:

“The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) will most likely require a minimum of two person crews for most mainline train operations including those trains carrying crude oil.  It is also expected to include appropriate exceptions.”

Train Securement

A working group on train securement was also formed last year and they too made a presentation at the recent RSAC meeting. Apparently there was a consensus reached on these issues and FRA intends to initiate a rule making based upon that consensus language. It would include provisions:

• Prohibiting certain unattended freight trains or standing freight cars on main track or sidings;

• Requiring railroads to adopt and implement procedures to verify securement of trains and unattended equipment for emergency responders;

• Requiring locomotive cabs to be locked and reversers to be removed and secured; and

• Requiring railroad to obtain advance approval from FRA for locations or circumstances where unattended cars or equipment may be left.

Moving Forward

No draft language for either potential NPRM has yet been made public. Nor has there been any indication how soon such language will be available to send to the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review.

FRA Calls Emergency Meeting of RSAC – 8-29-13

As expected the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has posted a meeting notice in Monday’s Federal Register (available on-line today; 78 FR 48931) for an emergency meeting of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) concerning the recent FRA emergency order resulting from the recent fatal Canadian derailment of a crude oil train with subsequent catastrophic fires and explosions. The day-long meeting will take place on August 29^th in Washington, DC.

According to the Notice:

“At the August 29 meeting, FRA intends to address the safety requirements that were issued in FRA Emergency Order No. 28 (EO 28) [Link added] and the recommendations made in Safety Advisory 2013-06 [Link added]. FRA also plans to discuss the safety implications and potential costs and benefits of the requirements contained in Transport Canada's emergency directives [See Here and Here], and safety-related initiatives, including possible new RSAC tasks to implement such initiatives.”

The FRA includes in their Notice three specific areas that Committee members should be prepared to discuss at this meeting:

• The Transport Canada's directive requiring that two-person crews operate trains carrying hazardous materials on main track;

• The appropriate types and quantities of hazardous materials and the circumstances under which trains transporting such materials should not be left unattended on main track and sidings; and

• The various criteria and evaluation processes railroads have used, or intend to use, to formulate plans that they may choose to adopt to identify locations and circumstances where it is safe and suitable to leave trains unattended and secured on main track or sidings outside of yards or terminals.

Public attendance at the meeting will be on a first-come first-seated basis with limited seating available. There is no mention of having this meeting web cast. There is no mention of any public comment period or method for the public to provide written comments for consideration.

FRA-PHMSA Rail Safety Advisory Published in Federal Register

The joint safety advisory (SA) from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) that I described last week was published today in the Federal Register (78 FR 48224-48229). It addresses some of the safety issues that have been identified in the on-going investigation of the recent fatal derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada.

NOTE: The safety advisory uses an interesting spelling (?) of the city name that I haven’t seen before; “Lac-M[eacute]gantic”. I am not a French (or French-Canadian) speaker so I’m not sure what that is all about. I will continue to use the common American spelling that has made its way into the news media with appropriate apologies to any readers from Quebec.

Planned Meeting of the RSAC

The SA notes that an emergency meeting of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee will be called to discuss potential regulatory actions that the FRA might consider in light of this accident. A meeting notice will be published in the Federal Register.

The FRA intends to have the RSAC address the following issues:

• The formulation of a task statement regarding appropriate crew size for an RSAC working group to consider; and

• The appropriate types and quantities of hazardous materials that should preclude trains transporting such materials from being left unattended on main track and sidings.

Categorization of Hazardous Materials

One of the potential issues raised in this accident is the flammability of crude oil. Different sources and blends of crude oil have different flash points. This is reflected in the three different Packing Groups that may be used for the classification of crude oil as a Class 3 hazardous material. Those Packing Groups in-turn have an impact on what types of rail cars may be used to transport crude oil. This has potential safety implications if the crude oil has a lower flash point than reflected in the shipping paperwork and an improper rail car selection is made.

As a result, DOT is recommending that “offerors evaluate their processes for testing, classifying and packaging the crude oil that they offer into transportation via railroad tank car as required by Part 173 of the HMR.”

Review Security Plans

Current DOT regulations require that offerors of hazardous materials prepare (and keep on file) a security plan for the shipment of bulk quantities of hazardous materials. It is not clear that those plans take into account the potential for the unattended parking of trains carrying those rail cars on mainlines or mainline sidings outside of rail yards. DOT is recommending that “offerors and carriers of hazardous materials review their plans adopted in accordance with subpart I of part 172 [link added] of the HMR that govern the safety and security of the transportation of railroad tank cars containing hazardous materials. In particular DOT is recommending that the review address “whether their existing plans adequately address personnel security, unauthorized access, and en-route security”

Moving Forward

Given the severity of the accident and the potential eco-political implications of the cargo involved, I am sure that this is not the last of the regulatory (or potential legislative) actions that will result from this tragic event.