# 119-hr-971: RAIL Act

119-hr-971, RAIL Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Sykes, Emilia Strong [D-OH-13] (D-OH); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2025-12-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-971
- As of: 2025-12-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-971
- Congress: 119
- Title: RAIL Act
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-02-04
- Sponsor: Rep. Sykes, Emilia Strong [D-OH-13] (D-OH)
- Cosponsors: 7
- Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2025-12-21

## Summary

**Tightens safety rules for trains carrying hazardous materials.** This bill would make the Department of Transportation set new federal standards on advance notice to emergency officials, train operating limits, inspections, defect detectors, and crew sizes to reduce accidents and speed emergency response. - Communities and first responders: Rail carriers would have to give State and tribal emergency response commissioners advance notice and a written gas discharge plan for hazardous shipments. The bill would expand local responder training and impose a new $1,000,000 annual registration fee on Class I rail carriers while raising supplemental training grants from $2.0 million to $4.0 million. - Railroad workers and inspections: The bill would prohibit railroads from cutting time for required inspections and would require an extra daily locomotive inspection. DOT would audit every Class I railroad at least once every 5 years and some Class II/III carriers annually. - Operations, equipment, and enforcement: DOT would mandate wayside defect detectors with hotbox detectors every 10 miles on Class I lines and phase out noncompliant DOT-111 tank cars for Class 3 flammable liquids by May 1, 2030. It would also set a 2-person freight crew minimum with limited exceptions and raise maximum civil penalties for safety violations.

## Cosponsors (7)

- Rep. Rulli, Michael A. [R-OH-6] (R-OH), 2025-02-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Beatty, Joyce [D-OH-3] (D-OH), 2025-02-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Brown, Shontel M. [D-OH-11] (D-OH), 2025-02-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH-9] (D-OH), 2025-02-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Landsman, Greg [D-OH-1] (D-OH), 2025-02-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Miller, Max L. [R-OH-7] (R-OH), 2025-02-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Elfreth, Sarah [D-MD-3] (D-MD), 2025-03-10T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Stronger rail inspection and safety rules: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would tighten rail safety by requiring new wayside defect detector standards, hotbox detectors every 10 miles on hazmat routes, and stronger placard heat rules. The Secretary would also start audits within 60 days, require pre-departure inspection changes within 120 days, and c…
- Much higher fines for rail violations: cost, high. If enacted, maximum civil fines for many rail and hazardous-materials safety violations would increase. Caps would become the greater of a percentage of a person’s annual income or operating income or a fixed dollar floor (for example, 0.5% or $750,000, and 1% or $1,750,000 for some violations).
- Ban DOT-111 cars for flammables: cost, medium. If enacted, carriers could not use DOT-111 tank cars that do not meet DOT-117 series standards to carry Class 3 flammable liquids beginning May 1, 2030. The Secretary must update any conflicting regulatory deadlines to match this prohibition.
- Two-person crews for Class I freight: mixed, high. If enacted, the bill would require Class I freight trains to operate with at least two crew members: a qualified conductor and a qualified engineer. Narrow exceptions would allow some short, non-main-line, or pre-existing operations, but not for high-hazard trains or trains 7,500 feet or longer.
- New $1M annual carrier fee: mixed, high. If enacted, each Class I rail carrier would pay a $1,000,000 fee every year in addition to existing fees. The Secretary could use amounts from that fee and recovered grant funds to increase a supplemental emergency response training grant to $4 million per year.

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-979: AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025
- 119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-1993: 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Commemorative Coin Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-971 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/971)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-979: AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-979)
- [119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-909)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-1993: 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Commemorative Coin Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1993)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-971 (as of 2025-12-21).