A bill that will mandate new rail safety technology while also increasing regulations for the hauling of toxic materials has been approved by a U.S. Senate committee.
The Rail Safety Act has passed in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and is now on its way to the full Senate for a vote.
As proposed, the legislation will also outlaw one-person train crews, limit the size of hazardous material shipments, and expand grants for firefighters to purchase hazardous materials gear.
The measure, as proposed by Democrat Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, is spirited by the derailment of a 50-car train in February in East Palestine, Ohio. Several cars were transporting up to 500,000 pounds of the chemical vinyl chloride.
The derailment caused fires in the cars as well as a controlled burn. In response, several hundred residents living within a mile of the accident were evacuated.
The measure has received some bipartisan support. Former President Donald Trump remarked that the bill has his “complete and total endorsement.”
While acknowledging that Republicans are generally opposed to increased regulations, Florida Republican Marco Rubio expressed his support for the legislation, telling The Hill newspaper that “given the derailment and some of the evidence, I think this is a pretty narrowly tailored bill.”
In a published statement, the Association of American Railroads said that while it had problems with what it called mandated “crew staffing models,” as well as the expansion of hazmat transportation operating requirements, it was nevertheless supportive overall of the legislation.
By Garry Boulard
