Three Years On, Congress Tries Again On Rail Industry - But The Industry Isn't Buying It

Three years after a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio — blanketing a small American town in a chemical plume visible for miles — Congress is making its third attempt to pass meaningful rail safety legislation. Advocates are cautiously optimistic. They've been here before.

Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Jon Husted (R-Ohio) introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2026 on 24 February, mandating wayside defect detectors, tightening hazardous materials rules and requiring a minimum two-person crew on every freight train. The House version, led by Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), followed days later with its own bipartisan roster of co-sponsors.

The politics, for once, look workable. The bill has drawn endorsements from both President Biden and President Trump in prior iterations — a rare double imprimatur that sponsors are deploying as a shield against Republican resistance. Labour unions are fully mobilised, with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Transport Workers Union among those demanding swift action.

But the freight rail industry is pushing back. The Association of American Railroads argues that railroads are currently in their safest era ever, warning against "backwards-looking, one-size-fits-all mandates" that could disrupt supply chains and raise costs for consumers.

The tension cuts to the heart of a long-running Washington fight: who bears the cost of safety — corporations or communities? Unions counter that Class I railroads are running longer trains, conducting shorter inspections and over-relying on automation, putting the 80 million Americans living near freight lines at unnecessary risk.

The prior version of the bill cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in 2023 — then died on the floor. Sponsors insist this time is different. Sceptics have a simple answer: so did they last time.