Earlier this month, as a response to the derailment of freight train in East Palestine, OH, Sen Brown (D,OH) and Sen Vance (R,OH) introduced S 576, the Railway Safety Act of 2023. The bill provides a variety of potential improvements for the shipment of hazardous materials by rail. Various funds are authorized to support some of the program proposed.
Programs and policies mentioned in the bill include:
Safety requirements for trains transporting hazardous materials.
Rail car inspections.
Defect detectors.
Safe Freight Act of 2023(minimum crew size).
Increasing maximum civil penalties for violations of rail safety regulations.
Safer tank cars.
Hazardous materials training for first responders.
Rail safety infrastructure research and development grants.
Appropriations for tank car research and development.
Definitions
Section 2 of the bill provides the definition of just a single term: ‘Secretary’, meaning the Secretary of the Department of Transportation.
HAZMAT Safety Requirements
Section 3 of the bill would require DOT to establish or modify regulations that would establish “safety requirements … with which a shipper or rail carrier operating a train transporting hazardous materials that is not subject to the requirements for a high-hazard flammable train under section” 49 USC 174.310. Those regulations would require shippers and rail carriers to:
To provide advance notification and information regarding the transportation of hazardous materials to each State emergency response commissioner, the tribal emergency response commission, or any other State or tribal agency responsible for receiving the information notification for emergency response planning information,
To include, in that notification a written gas discharge plan with respect to the applicable hazardous materials being transported; and
To reduce or eliminate blocked crossings resulting from delays in train movements.
Additionally, those regulations would include requirements (to be established by DOT) for:
Train length and weight,
Train consist,
Route analysis and selection,
Speed restrictions,
Track standards,
Track, bridge, and rail car maintenance,
Signaling and train control, and
Response plans
Defect Detectors
Section 5 would require DOT, within 1 year of enactment of this legislation, to “issue regulations establishing requirements for the installation, repair, testing, maintenance, and operation of wayside defect detectors for each rail carrier operating a train consist carrying hazardous materials.” The regulations would include requirements for:
The frequency of the placement of wayside defect detectors, including a requirement that all Class I railroads install a hotbox detector along every 10-mile segment of rail track over which trains carrying hazardous materials operate,
Performance standards for such detectors,
The maintenance and repair requirements for such detectors,
Reporting data and maintenance records of such detectors,
Appropriate steps the rail carrier must take when receiving an alert of a defect or failure from or regarding a wayside defect detector, and
The use of hotbox detectors to prevent derailments from wheel bearing failures, including alert temperatures and required actions upon receipt of an alert.
Section 10 would establish a research grant program “for research and development of wayside defect detectors to better prevent the derailment of trains transporting hazardous materials.” Subsection (b) would authorize $22-million for those grants.
Safer Tank Cars
Section 8 would change the phase out of DOT 111 railcars in flammable service. Current regulations (49 CFR 173.243) has a phase out date of May 1st, 2025 for the use of DOT 111 railcars for the shipment of flammable liquids in PG 1. Section 8(a) would apply that date to all flammable liquid shipments regardless of packing group.
This section provides two requirements for regulatory action supporting this change:
DOT is required to “immediately remove or revise the date-specific deadlines in any applicable regulations or orders to the extent necessary to conform with the requirement under subsection (a)”, and
DOT is prohibited from enforcing “any date-specific deadlines or requirements that are inconsistent with” with this requirement.
The only other ‘date-specific deadline’ set in §173.243 is a 2018 deadline for the phase out of the use of DOT 111 railcars for unrefined petroleum products. Implementation of the requirements of §8 would allow shippers to use DOT 111 railcars for such products through May 1st, 2025.
Hazmat Training
Section 9(a) would amend 49 USC 5108(g) adding a new paragraph (4):
(4) ADDITIONAL FEE FOR CLASS I RAIL CARRIERS.—In addition to the fees collected pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2), the Secretary shall establish and annually impose and collect from each Class I rail carrier a fee in an amount equal to $1,000,000.
Subsection (b) would also amend 49 USC Section 5116(j)(1) by replacing the word ‘liquids’ to ‘materials’ so that it would now read:
“(A) to develop a hazardous materials response training curriculum for emergency responders, including response activities for the transportation of crude oil, ethanol, and other flammable materials by rail, consistent with the standards of the National Fire Protection Association; and”
It would then amend §5116(j)(3)(A) to read:
“(A) IN GENERAL.—To carry out the grant program established pursuant to paragraph (1),the Secretary may expend, during each fiscal year—
“(i) the amounts collected pursuant to section 5108(g)(4); and
“(ii) any amounts recovered during such fiscal year from grants awarded under this section during a prior fiscal year.”.
Finally, subsection (c) would amend 49 USC 5128(b)(4), increasing the Supplemental Training Grants of §5116(i) from $2-million to $4-million. This money would come from the funds in the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Fund.
Moving Forward
While Brown is not a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration, Vance is. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see this bill considered by Committee. There is a great deal of political pressure to ‘do something’ to prevent recurrences of the East Palestine derailment, but there is still some major Republican opposition to increased regulation and government spending. There will have to be some behind the scene negotiations on modifications to this bill to get to legislation that would allow the Committee and then the Senate to move forward.
Commentary
The new hazmat train requirements of §3 of the bill looks like it may have the unintended consequence of encouraging railroads to limit the transport hazmat railcars to hazmat trains that would fall under the definition of a highly hazardous flammable train (HHFT) under 49 USC 174.310. Under the proposed rules, it looks like there could be tighter restrictions on non-HHFT hazmat trains, so it would provide railroads with an incentive to concentrate hazmat shipments in HHFT’s. This might reduce the number of trains carrying hazmat railcars, but it could increase the potential consequences of an accident in such a train.