[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9998 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9998
To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final rule
setting minimum structural standards for railroad bridges, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 18, 2024
Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania (for herself, Mr. Deluzio, Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer,
Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Goldman of New York, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Ms.
Norton, Ms. Lee of California, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Brownley,
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Khanna, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Carter of
Louisiana, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Titus, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Bush,
Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Budzinski, and Mr. Cohen) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final rule
setting minimum structural standards for railroad bridges, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Rail Bridge Safety and Transparency
Act''.
SEC. 2. RAILROAD BRIDGE SAFETY.
(a) In General.--Section 20145 of title 49, United States Code is
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 20145. Railroad bridge safety
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Class i railroad; class ii railroad; class iii
railroad; railroad; railroad carrier.--The terms `Class I
railroad', `Class II railroad', `Class III railroad',
`railroad', and `railroad carrier'--
``(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), have
the meanings given such terms in section 20102; and
``(B) do not include--
``(i) the National Railroad Passenger
Corporation (commonly referred to as `Amtrak');
or
``(ii) rail carriers that have the
principal purpose of providing commuter rail
passenger transportation (as defined in section
24102).
``(2) Component part.--The term `component part', with
respect to a railroad bridge, includes the substructure,
superstructure, deck, bearings, railings, joints, and the rails
on the track of such bridge.
``(3) Department.--The term `Department' means the
Department of Transportation.
``(4) Eligible requesting party.--The term `eligible
requesting party' means a party authorized to request a bridge
inspection report in accordance with section 417(d)(2)(A) of
the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (49 U.S.C. 20103 note).
``(5) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of Transportation.
``(b) Strengthening Standards for Railroad Bridges.--
``(1) Rulemaking.--Not later than 2 years after the date of
the enactment of the Rail Bridge Safety and Transparency Act,
the Secretary, using other standards within the Department as
models, shall issue a final rule establishing minimum
structural and safety standards for railroad bridges and their
component parts, including--
``(A) minimum requirements for a railroad bridge
and its component parts to be classified in poor, fair,
or good condition; and
``(B) the amount of corrosion, cracking, spalling,
and rusting permissible for each such condition.
``(2) Bridge inspection reports.--
``(A) Inclusion of certain information.--Not later
than 2 years after the initial publication of the
standards described in paragraph (1), all railroads
carriers shall--
``(i) include information in their bridge
inspection reports indicating whether each
bridge for which such railroad carrier is
responsible--
``(I) meets minimum structural and
safety standards;
``(II) is in poor, fair, or good
condition; and
``(III) has component parts in
poor, fair, or good condition; and
``(ii) for each bridge in poor condition,
include--
``(I) an estimate of how long the
bridge can remain in service;
``(II) a timeline for planned
repairs, rehabilitation, or replacement
of the bridge; and
``(III) an estimate of the cost to
perform such actions.
``(B) Bridge inspection report database.--
``(i) In general.--Not later than 5 years
after the date of the enactment of the Rail
Bridge Safety and Transparency Act, the
Secretary shall develop, populate, and manage a
database of all bridge inspection reports
received from railroad carriers, which shall be
continuously updated with the most recent
bridge conditions as indicated in bridge
inspection reports provided to the Department.
``(ii) Public availability.--The Secretary
shall make available to the public a version of
the database described in clause (i) that
includes for each bridge inspection report only
the following information:
``(I) The date of last inspection
of the bridge.
``(II) The location of the bridge.
``(III) The owner of the bridge.
``(IV) A determination of whether
the bridge is in poor, fair, or good
condition.
``(V) Any other comments on the
condition of the bridge disclosed by
the owner, as indicated in the bridge
inspection report.
``(C) Submission deadlines.--
``(i) Initial reports.--During the period
beginning on the date of the enactment of the
Rail Bridge Safety and Transparency Act and
ending on the date on which the database
required under subparagraph (B) is first
established--
``(I) not later than 30 days after
the receipt of a bridge inspection
report request from an eligible
requesting party, the Secretary shall
request a bridge inspection report from
the railroad carrier concerned, and--
``(aa) if the request is
for 5 or fewer railroad
bridges, the railroad carrier
concerned shall, not later than
30 days after the receipt of
such request from the
Secretary, submit the bridge
inspection report to the
Department; or
``(bb) if the request is
between 6 and 50 railroad
bridges, the railroad carrier
concerned shall, not later than
90 days after the receipt of
such request from the
Secretary, submit the bridge
inspection report to the
Department; and
``(II) not later than 14 days after
the receipt of a bridge inspection
report submitted in accordance with
item (aa) or (bb) of subclause (I), the
Secretary shall submit such bridge
inspection report to the eligible
requesting party.
``(ii) Future reports.--After the date on
which the database required under subparagraph
(B) is first established, the Secretary shall--
``(I) not later than 30 days after
the receipt of a bridge inspection
report request from an eligible
requesting party--
``(aa) if the requested
bridge inspection report is
available in the database,
submit such report to the
eligible requesting party; and
``(bb) if the requested
information is not available in
the database, request a bridge
inspection report from the
railroad carrier concerned;
and--
``(AA) if the
request is for 5 or
fewer railroad bridges,
the railroad carrier
concerned shall, not
later than 30 days
after the receipt of
such request from the
Secretary, submit the
bridge inspection
report to the
Department; or
``(BB) if the
request is between 6
and 50 railroad
bridges, the railroad
carrier concerned
shall, not later than
90 days after the
receipt of such request
from the Secretary,
submit the bridge
inspection report to
the Department; and
``(II) not later than 14 days after
the receipt of a bridge inspection
report submitted by a railroad carrier
in accordance with subitem (AA) or (BB)
of item (bb), submit such bridge
inspection report to the eligible
requesting party.
``(c) Coordination of Oversight of Coastal Railroad Bridges.--The
Secretary, in coordination with the Commandant of the Coast Guard,
shall issue a final rule establishing minimum structural and safety
standards for movable railroad bridges and railroad drawbridges
spanning the navigable waters of the United States, including--
``(1) the minimum structural and safety requirements for
each such bridge and its component parts, including movable
parts;
``(2) the requirements that each such bridge and its
component parts shall meet in order to be considered to be in
poor, fair, or good condition;
``(3) the requirement that each such bridge be inspected at
the same frequency as railroad bridges that are not located
above navigable waters; and
``(4) requirements for safety inspections that are required
if a railroad carrier shifts from in-person to remote operation
of such a bridge.
``(d) Flagging Ownership of Railroad Bridges.--Not later than 1
year after the date of the enactment of the Rail Bridge Safety and
Transparency Act, each railroad carrier that owns 1 or more railroad
bridges shall post a placard or sign in area that is visible to
oncoming traffic on (or adjacent to) both ends of each such bridge that
identifies--
``(1) the railroad carrier that owns the bridge; and
``(2) a phone number through which a member of the public
can report visible hazards or concerns with respect to such
bridge.
``(e) Rail Bridge Safety Concern Reporting System.--
``(1) Establishment.--Not later than 2 years after the date
of the enactment of the Rail Bridge Safety and Transparency
Act, the Secretary shall establish a system, to be known as the
Rail Bridge Safety Concern Reporting System (referred to in
this subsection as the `System'), to report safety concerns
regarding the condition of railroad bridges.
``(2) Development.--In developing the System, the Secretary
shall--
``(A) streamline and simplify the data management
process within the Department; and
``(B) reduce duplicative efforts and maximize
available resources, including by integrating the
Alleged Violation Reporting Form of the Federal
Railroad Administration into the System.
``(3) System functions.--
``(A) Reporting safety concerns.--The Secretary
shall use the System to permit any State, political
subdivision of a State, or Tribe to report to the
Secretary safety concerns regarding the condition of a
railroad bridge based on certain factors, including--
``(i) physical appearance;
``(ii) extreme shaking or excess movement
during the passage of a train or an extreme
weather event;
``(iii) components of the railroad bridge
falling onto surrounding areas; and
``(iv) any other concern that the Secretary
determines to be significant to the structural
or operational safety of the bridge;
``(B) Investigations.--If the Secretary determines
a report submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A)
includes a reasonable safety concern regarding the
structural or operational safety of a bridge, the
Secretary shall investigate such safety concern to
determine the risk posed by the railroad bridge to--
``(i) the operation of the railroad
concerned;
``(ii) the safety of railroad workers;
``(iii) the safety the general public; and
``(iv) the safety of individuals who
traverse on, under, or near the railroad
bridge, including pedestrians, cyclists, and
individuals traveling by motor vehicle or boat.
``(C) Repair or suspension of use.--If the
Secretary determines that a safety concern investigated
pursuant to subparagraph (B) poses a significant threat
to the structural or operational safety of the bridge
or the safety of any of the parties described in
clauses (i) through (iv) of subparagraph (B), the
Secretary shall direct the Administrator of the Federal
Railroad Administration to coordinate with the railroad
concerned to establish a plan that addresses the safety
concern, which may include--
``(i) requiring the immediate repair of the
railroad bridge;
``(ii) imposing weight or speed
restrictions on the bridge; and
``(iii) any action required by the
Secretary pursuant to section 20104(a) if the
Secretary determines that such safety concern--
``(I) involves an unsafe condition
or practice or a combination of unsafe
conditions and practices; or
``(II) causes an emergency
situation involving an imminent hazard
of death, personal injury, or
significant harm to the environment.
``(D) Civil penalties.--
``(i) Failure to finalize plan.--If a plan
required under subparagraph (C) is not
finalized within 90 days after a determination
by the Secretary pursuant to such subparagraph
and the relevant railroad bridge remains in
operation, the Secretary shall impose a civil
penalty to the railroad concerned in an amount
equal to $1,000 per week until such plan is
finalized.
``(ii) Completion of repairs.--If a safety
concern determined by the Secretary pursuant to
subparagraph (C)(iii)(II) to pose an imminent
hazard of death, personal injury, or
significant harm to the environment is not
repaired within 1 year after such determination
and the relevant railroad bridge remains in
operation, the Secretary shall impose a civil
penalty to the railroad concerned in an amount
equal to $20,000 per week until such bridge is
repaired.
``(4) Disclosure of reported safety concerns.--The
Secretary shall publish, on a publicly available website of the
Department of Transportation, a notice of each safety concern
involving a railroad bridge that the Secretary determines,
pursuant to paragraph (3)(C)(iii)(II) to pose an imminent
hazard of death, personal injury, or significant harm to the
environment, which shall include--
``(A) the location of the bridge;
``(B) the owner of the bridge;
``(C) whether the bridge is in active use; and
``(D) whether the railroad that owns the bridge has
submitted a plan to address such safety concern.
``(5) Funds for bridge safety personnel.--
``(A) Authorization of appropriations.--In addition
to the amounts referred to in subparagraph (B), there
are authorized to be appropriated to the Department
such additional sums as may be necessary to hire
additional bridge safety personnel to carry out this
subsection.
``(B) Use of civil penalties.--All amounts
collected from the civil penalties imposed pursuant to
paragraph (3)(D) and section 1327(c) shall be reserved
for hiring additional bridge safety personnel to carry
out this section.
``(f) Randomized Observation of Railroad Bridges.--
``(1) In general.--
``(A) Number of annual observations.--The Secretary
shall annually conduct at least 1 randomized bridge
observation for every 500 railroad bridges owned by a
railroad carrier.
``(B) Application of standards.--For each
observation conducted pursuant to this subsection, the
Secretary shall inspect the condition of each bridge
and its component parts in accordance with the
standards established pursuant to subsection (c)(1).
``(C) Small railroad observation pool.--If a
railroad carrier owns fewer than 500 railroad bridges,
such railroad carrier shall be included in a pool of
railroad carriers. Not fewer than 5 railroad carriers
in such pool shall be selected annually for a
randomized observation of at least 1 railroad bridge
owned by each selected railroad carrier.
``(D) Advance notice.--In carrying out randomized
bridge observations under this section, the Secretary
shall not give a railroad carrier more than 3 days of
advance notice of the timing of an observation.
``(2) Review.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall compare the
result of each bridge observation to the reported
conditions of the applicable bridge in the bridge
inspection report provided by the railroad carrier.
``(B) Discrepancies.--In the event of a discrepancy
between the result of a bridge observation and the
conditions of such railroad bridge documented in the
most recent bridge inspection report, the Secretary
shall work with the railroad carrier concerned to
address deficiencies in the inspection system of such
railroad carrier, including by--
``(i) improving the training of inspectors;
``(ii) increasing the frequency of
inspections;
``(iii) addressing inspector staffing
shortages; and
``(iv) revising inspection criteria.
``(C) Additional inspections.--For railroad
carriers that the Secretary has found to have a pattern
of discrepancies under subparagraph (D), the Secretary
shall--
``(i) increase the number of randomized
observations from the baseline set in paragraph
(1);
``(ii) establish a priority list of
railroad bridges to be subject to additional
observations, based on factors such as the
condition of the bridge, the bridge length, the
location of the bridge, the safety risk to the
community should the bridge fail, the type of
freight carried over the bridge, and the
frequency of service over the bridge;
``(iii) carry out such additional
observations with not more than 3 days of
advance notice provided to the railroad
carrier; and
``(iv) ensure that such additional
observations examine the condition of the
bridge and are additive to, not a replacement
of, the normal track inspections, including
visual track inspections, required by the
Department.
``(D) Pattern of discrepancies.--
``(i) Defined term.--In this subparagraph,
the term `pattern of discrepancies', with
respect to a railroad carrier--
``(I) means the Secretary has
identified 5 or more instances in which
conditions reported on the bridge
inspection report of such railroad
carrier differed from the results of an
observation conducted by the Secretary
pursuant to this subsection; and
``(II) does not include sudden
changes in the condition of a railroad
bridge due to a significant event, such
as an earthquake or other natural
disaster.
``(ii) Effect.--If the Secretary
identifies, through randomized observations of
railroad bridges of a railroad carrier, a
pattern of discrepancies between the railroad
carrier's bridge inspection report and multiple
observations--
``(I) such railroad carrier--
``(aa) shall be considered
to be in violation of this
chapter; and
``(bb) shall be subject to
the civil penalties set forth
in section 21301; and
``(II) not later than 90 days after
such identification, the Secretary
shall submit a written report to
Congress that describes such
discrepancies.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The chapter analysis for chapter 201 of
title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating
to section 20145 and inserting the following:
``20145. Railroad bridge safety.''.
SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO THE RAIL SAFETY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF
2008.
Section 417(d)(2) of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (49
U.S.C. 20103 note) is amended--
(1) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting the
following:
``(A) In general.--
``(i) Jurisdictional requests.--A Member of
Congress, a State, or political subdivision of
a State may file a request with the Secretary
for a public version of the bridge inspection
report or reports generated under subsection
(b)(5) for bridges located in the congressional
district or State of such Member of Congress or
in the jurisdiction of such State or political
subdivision.
``(ii) Requests from committees.--The Chair
or Ranking Member of the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House
of Representatives or the Chair or Ranking
Member of Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate may file a request
with the Secretary for a public version of the
bridge inspection report or reports generated
under subsection (b)(5) for any bridge in the
United States.''.
(2) by redesignating subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D) as
subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E), respectively;
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:
``(B) Limitation.--A State or political subdivision
of a State may request not more than 50 bridge
inspection reports under subparagraph (A)(i) during any
6-month period.''; and
(4) in subparagraph (C), as redesignated, by striking ``If
the Secretary determines that the request is reasonable, the
Secretary'' and inserting ``The Secretary''.
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