This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s partnership with NOTUS, a nonpartisan news organization that covers government and politics with the fresh eyes of early career journalists and the expertise of veteran reporters.
Three years after a major freight rail accident in East Palestine, Ohio, Congress has not yet passed legislation to reform safety standards.
But a bipartisan group of lawmakers are continuing their push — and think they could pull it off this time. The Railway Safety Act of 2026, co-sponsored by Ohio Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno along with six others, would establish additional safety checks and require two crewmembers to operate the train instead of one, among other rules.
Husted said he hopes the bill will get a boost from Vice President JD Vance, who previously held his seat and introduced similar legislation in 2023 with then-Sen. Sherrod Brown.
“I think that it will get across the finish line,” Husted said. “It’s got support from the White House, and it just means a lot to us to have support from the administration.”
A senior White House official said “the Administration is proud to support the Railway Safety Act, critical legislation that will prevent another dangerous and devastating tragedy like we saw three years ago in East Palestine, Ohio.”
“While the Biden Administration failed the people of East Palestine, President Trump promised that the men and women of East Palestine will never be forgotten,” the official said in a statement. “The President supports this legislation, and looks forward to its passage.”
The legislation aims to improve emergency response by notifying states about hazardous materials being transported by freight, mandating the use of defect-detection technology and expanding the list of hazardous materials.
Husted said these steps could prevent future accidents like the one in East Palestine.
“The defect-detection technology being in place every 15 miles would have made all the difference in the world,” Husted said in an interview.
Rep. Michael Rulli, who represents East Palestine, introduced a version of the bill in the House this month with Reps. Nick LaLota and John Garamendi.
“It has been over three years since the derailment in East Palestine, and our community is still recovering from its impact,” Rulli said in a statement after the House bill was introduced. “These commonsense protections are exactly what our country needs to prevent a disaster like this from ever happening again.”
But given the long struggle to get reform passed, some are concerned the latest legislation will hit the same roadblocks as past efforts.
Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes partnered with Rulli on a 2025 rail safety bill that ultimately failed. Sykes said that she hasn’t reviewed the new legislation but would support anything similar.
Sykes said support from lawmakers was there in previous years, but the influence of the freight rail lobby and a lack of prioritization from the White House have stalled efforts.
“I think the lobby is very strong, and there’s not a will from the administration to push it forward,” Sykes told NOTUS. “I don’t think [the White House is] serious about it.”
“We’ve already had these bills. They’ve been bipartisan, so I don’t know what they were waiting for,” Sykes said.
Freight rail companies and associations spent over $33 million on lobbying in 2025, according to OpenSecrets.
The industry has been slow to change its policies and resistant to proposals like requiring two operators on each train.
Freight companies have argued that train crew size should be determined by contract talks with labor groups, and that there’s not enough evidence to show that increasing crew size helps prevent accidents. Two crewmembers is the contracted standard for most major railroads and their unions, but some shorter-line operations run with only one crewmember. The National Transportation Safety Board did not find fault with the three crewmembers on the derailed train in East Palestine and blamed the accident on an overheated wheel bearing.
The Senate bill would require the Department of Transportation to establish regulations regarding train length and weight. Freight trains have gotten significantly longer in recent years, with some running several miles, despite studies showing that longer trains are more frequently involved in accidents.
Husted said he hopes reform efforts will have more success with Vance as vice president and good communication with the industry.
“I think a lot of lessons were learned,” Husted said of previous legislative efforts. “Conversations have been had with the industry and with safety experts and with the folks who care about these issues, first responders, etc. And we’ve learned a lot, and we’ve narrowed the legislation down in a way that focuses on things that are essential parts of railway safety.”