D.C. doings: Rail bridge bill enters Senate; Baldwin asks STB to review certain exemptions

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) on Aug. 1 introduced the Rail Bridge Safety and Transparency Act (S. 4954), which aims to increase the safety of rail bridges in the nation. 

There are more than 100,000 railroad bridges in the United States, yet there is little federal oversight of their safety, Casey said in a press release. The bridges typically are inspected and monitored by the railroads that own them based on individual guidelines. As a result, the inspections are largely inaccessible to local officials and constituents, leaving communities unaware of the safety of their local rail bridge, Casey said.

S. 4954 — which was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation — would create standards for rail bridge oversight by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). It would direct the USDOT to create standards to establish a minimum structural rating system for rail bridges and require railroads to inspect their bridges in line with those standards. The USDOT would also perform independent bridge inspections to ensure safety standards are upheld.

The bill is endorsed by the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Division, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, Transport Workers Union of America and International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) has called on the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to review existing exemptions for certain commodities and act to ensure shippers of those goods have a means to address rail service and pricing issues. The commodities include paper and forest products, manufactured goods and food products.
 
Outdated exemptions prohibit rail shippers from seeking recourse at the STB and revoking the exemptions would provide greater access to a newly finalized rule that will begin to address unreliable rail service and the high rail shipping costs, Baldwin wrote in a letter to the STB. She asked board members to revisit the exemptions, which were put in place before the rail industry consolidated.
 
In May, the STB announced a final rule on reciprocal switching that would allow certain shippers and receivers to petition the board and switch carriers when they receive inadequate rail service. It requires shippers of exempt commodities to pursue costly and time-consuming litigation to revoke the exemptions before filing a reciprocal switching petition, Baldwin said.

“I was proud to push for greater access to reciprocal switching to increase competition, but we need to ensure that more businesses can petition for better service when these big rail carriers are not meeting their customers’ needs,” Baldwin wrote.