Washington — Bipartisan laws just lately launched within the House is aimed toward bolstering the safety of the nation’s rail community by way of modernization and funding in grant and pilot packages.
Introduced by Reps. Troy Nehls (R-TX) and Seth Moulton (D-MA), the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024 (H.R. 8996) focuses on 4 key safety efforts. Those embrace a provision requiring all Class I railroads and Amtrak to enroll for 2 years within the Confidential Close Call Reporting System.
Run by NASA, an unbiased third occasion, C3RS is meant to permit railroads and their staff to report shut calls and unsafe incidents with out worry of reprisal from managers, in addition to share data on greatest practices. This provision would additionally stop Federal Railroad Administration enforcement on occasions reported, in accordance with a July 23 press launch.
Another provision would require state Departments of Transportation eligible for particular grants to inform first responders about AskRail, a cellular app that gives real-time details about the contents of prepare vehicles and the secure dealing with of contents within the occasion of an incident.
This provision additionally requires the event of the AskRail Connectivity Pilot Program to create a “competitive bidding process to provide service in areas along the national rail network in most need of connectivity.”
The bill would authorize $100 million yearly for FRA to determine a grant program for railcar producers to put in onboard freight railcar telematics programs and gateway gadgets. It additionally would authorize $10 million yearly for a pilot program to develop onboard sensors and look to the longer term capabilities of those sensors, together with real-time visibility, wheel/bearing/hand brake/hatch, and temperature readings.
The bill – which has been referred to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, in addition to the Science, Space and Technology Committee – incorporates parts of the Senate’s bipartisan Railway Safety Act of 2023, launched by Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH). It has the has assist of the Teamsters union, which calls it “strong, bipartisan Congressional action” that can improve employee safety.
