Reported by Julie Sneider for Progressive Railroading.
In yet another sign that rail safety will be a bipartisan issue in the 119th Congress, four House representatives on Feb. 3 rolled out a newer version of the Railway Safety Act, building off a similar proposal introduced in March 2023 but not passed in the aftermath of the derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railway train in East Palestine, Ohio.
The congressmen — U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), Michael Rulli (R-Ohio) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) — introduced a new version of the measure on the second anniversary of the derailment, which occurred Feb. 3, 2023. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the accident occurred because a bearing on a hopper car overheated and caused an axle to separate.
The Rail Safety Act of 2025 adds a requirement that Congress be regularly informed on the implementation of the NTSB’s safety recommendations. Two of the congressmen who introduced the new bill — Deluzio and Rulli — said they represent continuants who were directly impacted by the derailment.
On Feb. 3, rail labor leaders held a media call with Deluzio and other lawmakers who have been in favor of passing rail safety laws since the derailment in East Palestine. Deluzio said the reintroduced Railway Safety Act would build on the bipartisan momentum established in the last Congress. He noted that Vice President JD Vance, who was a senator from Ohio when the derailment occurred, was a cosponsor of rail safety legislation in 2023 and called on the vice president to deliver a rail safety message to the White House.
At the end of the media call, host Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, said the East Palestine anniversary is a reminder of the need for safer railroading.
“Anniversaries are reminders about progress and lack of progress,” Regan said. “I view them as a launching point to remind people what the stakes are … There is a lot of work to be done, and the labor movement will continue to lead the fight to operate railroads in the safest way possible.”
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