Bipartisan bill aims to improve tank car pressure-relief devices

U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and Michael Rulli (R-Ohio) yesterday announced they've introduced a new rail safety bill that calls for a study of how tank car pressure-relief devices perform during fiery derailments.

The proposed Under Pressure Act of 2026 would require the Federal Railroad Administration to report to Congress on the rate and causes of tank car pressure-relief device failures involved in train derailments, the lawmakers said in a press release. 

The bill also would require the report to recommend ways to prevent such failures and include updates on the status of related National Transportation Safety Board recommendations that have not been sufficiently answered. 

“We need better and more updated rules to keep communities and rail workers safe while the trains move freight across the country," said Deluzio.

Deluzio and Rulli represent the communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio that were most directly affected by the 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railway train in East Palestine, Ohio.

The NTSB concluded that the derailment occurred because a bearing on a hopper car overheated and caused an axle to separate. The derailed equipment included 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials.

“As we approach the three-year anniversary of the East Palestine derailment, we owe it to our communities to address every vulnerability in our rail safety systems," said Rulli. "The Under Pressure Act will further our understanding of why pressure relief devices fail during derailments and how we can prevent those failures from turning accidents into disasters.”

The legislation was crafted with input from the American Association of Railroads, Railway Supply Institute, American Chemistry Council and several rail labor unions.