After East Palestine derailment, Sykes, Johnson introduce RAIL Act to improve railroad safety

Two U.S. representatives from Ohio have introduced a bipartisan bill to try to improve railroad safety in light of last month’s train derailment in East Palestine.

U.S. Representatives Bill Johnson (R-6) and Emilia Sykes (D-13) on Friday introduced the Reducing Accidents in Locomotives (RAIL) Act.

Under the act, the secretary of transportation would be directed to issue new rules to improve safety based on the findings of the NTSB investigation, in conjunction with the Federal Railroad Administration.

The act would increase inspections on all trains, including those carrying hazardous materials; increase maximum penalties for violations of rail safety regulations; and audit federal rail inspection programs.

The act would also strengthen regulations to prevent wheel bearing failures, which caused the East Palestine train derailment, and strengthen requirements for safety placards that would have helped emergency responders in identifying the hazardous materials in the rail cars on-site, as well as increase funding for hazardous materials training for first responders.

It would also require railroad corporations to provide advance notification to state or tribal emergency response commissioners or commissions or any other state or tribal agency about the transportation of hazardous materials.