State And Regional

Senate panel approves rail safety bill, heads to full Senate for vote

WASHINGTON D.C. — A U.S. Senate committee approved a rail-safety bill Wednesday that was introduced following the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine in February.

>>RELATED: Railway Safety Act: How new proposed legislation aims to prevent train disasters like East Palestine

Both of Ohio’s senators, Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance, co-sponsored the Railway Safety Act of 2023 and it passed the Senate Commerce Committee.

“Today, we are one step closer to making railroads safer,” said Brown. “We built a broad, bipartisan coalition that agree on these commonsense safety measures that will finally hold big railroad companies like Norfolk Southern accountable.”

Vance also praised its passage on Wednesday.

“Today’s vote was a bipartisan victory for railway safety in America,” said Vance. “The tragedy in East Palestine can never be undone, but with the advancement of this legislation, we are moving one step closer to ensuring this never happens again.

It includes changes like regulating temperatures on train wheels to how many railcars a train can have.

It heads to the full U.S. Senate for a vote.


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