Congress appears to have so few new ideas that it’s going back to old bad ones. The misleadingly titled Railway Safety Act, which was introduced in 2023 and failed to garner enough Republican support to pass, is back from the dead. It shouldn’t be.
The original legislation was drafted by then-Senator JD Vance after a Norfolk Southern train tragically derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling chemicals into the town. Vance’s purported aim was to mandate various safety measures so that a similar derailment couldn’t happen again. Yet none of the bill’s major provisions would have prevented the East Palestine derailment.
In truth, the Railway Safety Act is intended primarily to protect organized labor from technological advancements that could make trains even safer at a lower cost. The bill would mandate two-man crews (the Norfolk Southern train had a three-man crew) to forestall automation. It would also require railroad mechanics to inspect every railcar carrying hazardous materials for minimum times set by the executive branch. This and other one-size-fits-all rules may deter railroads from investing in superior technologies for detecting problems. Such costly mandates may also create perverse incentives for railroads to pack hazmat cars into single trains, or for shippers to move hazardous materials by highway. That would make chemical transport less safe.
Railroads have become far safer without bureaucratic guidance, as no one has a greater incentive to prevent trains from derailing than the operators themselves. Last year was the industry’s safest on record as measured by accident and injury rates. Derailments have fallen by 46 percent in the last two decades, and worker casualties are down by 54 percent. Much of the improvement has been driven by innovative upgrades and efficiency gains that the Railway Safety Act discourages.
Three years ago, lawmakers of both parties saw the legislation for what it really was. Democrats flocked to support the bill, knowing it would benefit their union allies and give the administrative state broader latitude to issue regulations. Republicans, aside from a handful of populists, recognized that it would increase transportation costs for no discernible safety benefit. Those added costs would inevitably pass down the supply chain to merchandise buyers. A large majority of the GOP conference wisely buried the legislation.
Now, however, Vance is pushing for the Railway Safety Act from the White House. He and his allies in the administration successfully pressured House members on the Transportation Committee to attach it to a routine highway-authorization bill.
House leadership should work to strip the Railway Safety Act from the text before bringing it to a vote. Of all the things Republicans should be doing before the midterms, approving legislation that, at the margins, will raise shipping costs for businesses and consumers isn’t one of them.