On Tuesday July 23, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials met for a hearing on railroad safety. The Subcommittee called on several witnesses to testify and discuss issues related to safety efforts in the railroad industry. The hearing was also convened to highlight a new rail safety bill, introduced by subcommittee chair Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) and co-sponsored by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA).  

Witness List 

Panel I 

Michael Rulli, 6th District of Ohio 

Panel II 

Jennifer Homendy, Chair, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) 

Amit Bose, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)  

Tristan Brown, Deputy Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) 

Jeff Sloan, Senior Director for Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, American Chemistry Council 

David Arouca, National Legislative Director, Transportation Communications Union (TCU) 

Gregory Hynes, National Legislative Director, International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Works (SMART-TD) 

Rail Safety Incidents  

The Subcommittee convened the hearing amidst a couple of significant developments in rail safety, including the proposal of rail safety legislation from chairman Nehls and Rep. Moulton, which builds off legislation proposed by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) as well the release the National Transportation Safety Board’s report on the investigation into the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio in February 2023. According to the report, the cause of the derailment was due to an overheating wheel bearing, which caught fire and damaged the axel of the wheel, causing the train to derail. Of the train cars affected by the derailment, twenty contained various hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride. The hazardous material leaked into the local ecosystem, and Norfolk Southern authorized a controlled burn of the hazardous materials, with the aim of reducing the impact to the environment. The ensuing explosion released copious amounts of material into the atmosphere. 

Railroad incidents are not new. Incidents vary from derailments on the main line, incidents at railroad grade crossings, and derailments in railyards. It was mentioned during the hearing that since the derailment in East Palestine, there have been hundreds of derailments and incidents across the country. In December 2023, a person was killed after a freight train struck a truck in a railyard in Chicago. Another person was seriously injured after an accident in a railyard in Norfolk, Virginia.  

Throughout the hearing, there was agreement that railway incidents happen and that the costs associated with them can be high. In his opening remarks, Rep. Michael Rulli (R-OH) noted that railway incidents, especially the East Palestine derailment, cause economic disruption, environmental damage, and endanger the lives of people. Railway incidents can have a profound impact on communities. While most railway incidents occur in railyards, even those can result in injury or death, which can be devasting for a family and community.  

NTSB Investigation 

The final report from the NTSB regarding the East Palestine derailment was released last month in June. Witnesses and representatives praised Homendy and her team’s work on the report, which is a comprehensive discussion of the findings and around 30 recommendations regarding rail safety improvements. As noted by Homendy, the NTSB has been working constantly on rail safety for decades. In the report, Homendy noted that there were multiple safety concerns related to the derailment.

The affected railcars were DOT-111 tank cars, which PHMSA noted as having a lower ability to survive derailments without releasing their contents. Thinner steel compared to other tank cars, and lack of head protection and thermal protection make the DOT-111 more vulnerable to issues. Moreover, the DOT-111 is already set to be phased out by 2029 because of legislation passed by Congress in the aftermath of the 2013 derailment and explosion near the town of Lac Megantic, Quebec, killing 47 people.  

Homendy also noted issues in the communications between various groups during and after the derailment. Homendy said that Norfolk Southern (NS) failed to communicate to first responders information about the train consist and hazardous materials carried within it in a timely manner. She explained that NS did not provide enough time to the incident commander, which was the East Palestine Fire Department, to decide how to deal with the derailment and leakage. The controlled burn, Homendy said, was unnecessary.  

The report laid out a series of recommendations in response to its findings regarding the derailment. Recommendations included imposing regulations on wayside defect detection, improving emergency preparedness for derailments, recommending the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to require railroads to report train consist information to first responders immediately, and phasing out the DOT-111 tank cars from carrying hazardous materials, among other recommendations. Sloan noted that moving the timeline to phase out DOT-111 tank cars is feasible, citing some capacity that can speed up the process to manufacture or improve cars that can replace the DOT-111s.  

Homendy voiced frustration that while the NTSB makes safety recommendations, there are safety recommendations that remain open and have not been addressed. Homendy stressed that some recommendations were made years ago, such as phasing out DOT-111 tank cars, but still go unheeded.  

Rail safety Legislation 

Throughout the hearing, witnesses and representatives discussed the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act, introduced by Chair Nehls and Rep. Moulton. The bill (text here) includes various improvements in rail safety noted by chairman Nehls in his opening statement, including: 

• Requiring all Class I railroads to enroll in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System for two years. The system allows railroad employees to report close calls and safety incidents.  
• Requiring state DOTs to notify first responders about the existence of the AskRail app, which is the online platform for first responders to receive information about incidents. The bill also creates an AskRail connectivity program which fills in gaps of service throughout the freight network.  
• Authorizing $1 billion for the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant program.  
• Authorizing $100 million annually for the FRA to establish a program to install on-board telematic systems on freight cars.  
• Legislation regarding the phase out of the DOT-111 tank cars. 
• A requirement that most trains have two-person crews (important because a pending FRA rulemaking requiring this may well be struck down in court for having no specific legal authority and not being able to pass cost-benefit analysis).

Throughout the hearing, witnesses emphasized the importance of passing safety legislation, citing the impact it can have to further codify and strengthen rail safety across the country. NTSB recommendations are just recommendations. They can have an impact when implemented and passed through law when necessary. Homendy noted that the committee has done a lot of work on rail safety over the years, and now has an opportunity to pass significant legislation.  

Train Inspections 

Witnesses noted the state of train inspections as a concern throughout the hearing. Arouca noted in response to Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) that inspectors have little time to inspect railcars, explaining that on average, inspectors have around 44 seconds to inspect each car, about 22 seconds per side. Later in the hearing, Arouca pointed out the various components that inspectors must check, including wheels, flanges, bearings, couplers, and other safety appliances. The manual for inspectors included around 180 different elements to look for. Ensuring that the rail car is safe in under one minute can lead to safety risks, because someone may not be able to detect a defect in that brief time. At times, conductors will do inspections, but they are not given the same number of points to look out for, reducing the likelihood of catching a defect.  

Arouca noted that the rules were written decades ago, when there were dozens of Class I railroads across the country. Dozens of Class I railroads meant many more interchanges where railroads met, and thus more opportunities for inspection. Today, there are fewer interchanges, given there are six Class I railroads, and therefore, fewer opportunities for quick inspections by conductors.  

The reduced time given to inspect cars is connected to the philosophy of precision-scheduled railroading, in which railroads seek to reduce dwell times and increase the efficiency of trains. Hynes noted that cutting corners on inspections can pose a risk for safety, and that if such action were done by employees years ago, they would have been fired.  

Defect Detection 

Defect detection is a vital component of rail safety. Alongside railroads tracks are small utility sheds known as defect detectors, which are placed at regular intervals. When a train moves past, the cars pass over various pieces of equipment that are connected to the detector, which measures speed and temperature, and checks for dragging equipment. The detector takes in all the information from the passing train and produces an output communicated to the engineer. The message will indicate whether the train has a defect. Placing more detectors is a strategy to improve detection, and Bose noted in response to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) that along with deployment, there must be a focus on maintenance, operation, and dissemination of information.  

In some parts of the country, there are recent technologies in place for detection. Digital inspection portals take high speed images along with other information as trains pass through them and use machine learning to inspect for defects. Arouca noted in response to Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) that while this is a great technology, it should be sent to qualified mechanical inspectors, or carmen, to assist in inspections, although Arouca noted that it does not happen in practice.  

Communications 

As noted earlier, communication was an issue raised by the NTSB report on the East Palestine derailment. Brown noted that per the recommendations from the NTSB, PHMSA has a rule to require railroads to provide emergency responders with train information. 

Responding to Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Homendy explained the communication issues, or lack thereof, during the derailment. Homendy noted that immediately following the derailment, first responders needed the information of the train consist, but did not receive it until hours later. Ensuring that first responders are aware of the train consist is critical, so they are prepared. Homendy added that the answer is not just the AskRail app. There may be instances where there is no internet, which can render the app useless. Homendy explained that railroads know what they carry and the locations of trains. The information exists and needs to be directed to first responders immediately when an incident occurs. Railroads have information and the means to provide that information.  

Homendy was clear in her response: “It’s not hard for them to do that. And they should be held accountable for doing that.”  

Crew Sizes 

Recently, the FRA established a minimum safety requirement on train crew sizes. The rule requires a minimum of two crew members on a train, except for operations that do not pose a safety risk for railroad employees, the public, or the environment. Various witnesses and representatives noted the significance of ensuring a minimum crew size. Having multiple crew members means multiple people who can respond together if an incident occurs. Moreover, Hynes said that the duties of an engineer and conductor are different. The engineer spends their time in the cab of the locomotive, ensuring everything is running smoothly. The conductor is the person outside, checking the train movements if doing a shunting move for example, checking air brakes, ensuring proper connections, and relaying information to the engineer. They do different tasks, and it can be difficult for one person to both keep the train under control and deal with outside issues.