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Opening remarks, as prepared, of Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Chairman Troy E. Nehls (R-TX) from today’s hearing, entitled “Examining the State of Rail Safety in the Aftermath of the Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio”:

I am pleased to call this hearing today to discuss rail safety, as well as the events that occurred in East Palestine.  I am hopeful every Member has had ample opportunity to review the NTSB final report and the pending bipartisan legislation in both the Senate and in the House.  The Railroad Safety Enhancement Act (RSEA) that I introduced with Congressman Moulton builds upon the bipartisan legislation our Senate colleagues marked up and passed favorably out of the Commerce Committee.

First, it requires all class I railroads to enroll in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System for a period of two years.  This program is run by an independent third party and allows railroad employees to report close calls and unsafe incidents.

Second, our legislation does not include the periodic railcar inspections included in the Senate rail safety bill.  While well intentioned, I believe after discussions from a wide variety of stakeholders that these were redundant and unnecessary.

Our legislation requires state DOTs to notify first responders of the existence of the AskRail app, which is a tool that provides real-time data to first responders about a train consist.  The first responders in East Palestine had issues accessing the AskRail app due to lack of connectivity.  Our bill creates an AskRail connectivity pilot program to fill gaps in service for the app along the national freight network.

Our legislation authorizes an additional $1 billion dollars for the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program.  I’ll quote Ms. Homendy: “Grade crossings are among the deadliest spaces in our rail system, in part, because they are where our rail and highway systems meet.  Better separating these systems would save thousands of lives and incur many other benefits.”  I believe that the American people would value federal investment in this area.  It will not only reduce congestion on the network but also save lives.

Finally, our legislation authorizes $100 million annually for the Federal Railroad Administration to establish a grant program to install onboard freight railcar telematics systems and gateway devices.  The purpose of the program is to outfit the new and existing freight railcars carrying hazardous materials.  Additionally, this program will provide shippers with real-time data about their tank cars’ health and performance.

The bill also contains compromises on the phase-out date of DOT 111 tank cars that industry has indicated they can meet.

The Senate opted to introduce rail safety legislation in the immediate aftermath of the derailment in East Palestine, while the House chose to wait for the NTSB final report.

Now before we move any further, I am going to speak directly to my Republican colleagues on the Committee.  The Railway Safety Act in the Senate is supported by President Trump and is authored by Vice Presidential nominee Senator Vance.  Representative Moulton and I took that bill and added four key safety components:

1) Confidential Close Call Reporting System
2) AskRail connectivity pilot program
3) Telematics to modernize the tank car fleet
4) And more funding for the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program.

Taking Senator Vance’s bill, and adding these four safety provisions, makes this a very good rail safety bill, and I humbly ask for your support because it’s the right thing to do.   

I have read every page of the East Palestine final report, and reports related to other derailments and tragic incidents across the rail network.  The idea that we do not evolve in the safety realm is indefensible.

I extended invites to several of the class I railroad CEOs.  It was my intention that they would use the opportunity to discuss the positive policies their companies have undertaken in the area of safety.  Some of these railroads have good stories to tell, and I have personally visited several of them.  I visited CN’s operation in Homewood, Illinois, and it was top-tier.  The types of technologies they are deploying are state of the art and will save lives, and I commend them for their efforts.  But we can do more.

I am eager to listen to the witness testimony and look forward to asking the panel questions.

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