U.S. Representatives Emilia Sykes, Democrat, and Mike Rulli, Republican, both of Ohio, are set to reintroduce rail reform legislation Tuesday, two years after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine. Sykes, Rulli and other lawmakers made the announcement during a news conference Monday.
Sykes first introduced the Reducing Accidents in Locomotives Act after the derailment in 2023. The RAIL Act aims to hold railroad corporations accountable and ensure safety of residents and business located nearby railroad tracks.
"We've had two years to get it done and no one was willing to do it," Sykes said at the news conference. "But I hope to be proved wrong, and there's nothing else that I would want more than to be proven wrong."
Ohio has one of the country's largest railroad networks, according to a press release sent ahead of the new conference but ranks third worst in the country for train accidents and hazardous material spills.
The revised version of the RAIL Act includes a provision to codify a Federal Railroad Administration rule requiring a crew of at least two people on all Class I freight and passenger trains.
The RAIL Act also proposes increased inspections on all trains, including those carrying hazardous materials, regulations to prevent wheel bearing failures and increased hazardous materials training for first responders.
Vice President JD Vance, being from Ohio, may be able to help push the legislation through, Rep. Chris Deluzio, a Democrat from Pennsylvania's 17th District, near the site of the East Palestine train derailment, said.
"Encouraging the vice president to take that message not just to the White House but to congressional leaders on the Republican side of the aisle to finally stop blocking and let there be movement on these bills. Let us have a vote. Let us pass this legislation."
During his time as Senator, Vance co-sponsored the Bipartisan Railway Safety Act alongside former Senator Sherrod Brown. It was never brought to the senate floor for a vote.
Vance being from Ohio isn't enough to guarantee the RAIL Act passes, Sykes said.
"When I was asked by a law school class whether I thought rail reform would pass, since the vice president was now the vice president, and from Ohio," she said, "I said no because we've had two years to get it done, and no one was willing to do it."
