Jan 12, 2024
The legislation would enhance safety procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials, requiring emergency response plans and stricter regulations to prevent wheel bearing failures. The failure of a sensor to alert the crew to an overheating wheel bearing was blamed for the disaster.
The legislation would require two-person crews for freight trains and would substantially increase fines for safety violations.
It would require the Federal Railroad Administration to oversee infrastructure improvements to railside defect detectors and prohibit issuing caps on inspection times to inspectors.
Jan 9, 2024
The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Jan. 8 declined to consider Ohio’s bid “to enforce a state law that penalizes railroads if their trains block grade crossings for more than five minutes, turning away a case that sought further clarity on the scope of federal preemption concerning rail regulations,” according to Law360 Senior Reporter Linda Chiem.
Jan 8, 2024
In 2024, rail lobbyists, attorneys and influencers will toil to block costly rail safety legislation, derail a bill delimiting management operating-plan discretion and thwart unwelcome STB and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) decrees.
Topping challenges is the Rail Safety Act (S. 576), hastily born of populist politics following train mishaps, including a February 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that terrifyingly spilled and ignited hazardous chemicals—the cleanup costs approaching $1 billion
