Bill would make assault of rail crew members a federal crime

On the one-year anniversary of an Amtrak conductor's shooting in Illinois, U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) introduced a bill aimed at improving public safety and discouraging violence on passenger trains.

The Passenger Rail Crew Protection Parity Act would provide passenger-rail crew members with the same federal protections provided to airline crew members. Under those protections, any assault or intimidation of a rail crew member — including engineers, conductors and on-board service personnel — would be charged under federal law, according to a press release issued by Duckworth's office.

Under existing law, any assault against a rail crew member is adjudicated under the laws of the local jurisdiction where the assault occurs.

Amtrak conductor Michael Case spent 10 weeks in the hospital after being shot on May 16, 2017. The incident is one of 73 recorded assaults on Amtrak crew members since 2015.

"No one in America should experience what … Case endured while just doing his job. We are all entitled to work in a safe environment, one that is free from violence, harassment and intimidation," said Duckworth, who's a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Added Robert Guy, a state director for the SMART-Transportation Division: "Given the interstate nature of passenger rail, it only makes sense to provide the same federal protections that aviation employees enjoy to employees in the passenger rail industry, and that's just what the Passenger Rail Crew Protection Parity Act would do."