By Julie Sneider, Senior Editor
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, the East Palestine train derailment, the proposed Railway Safety Act, freight-rail service problems and rail industry regulation were among the major topics raised on Capitol Hill this week during a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The committee met to hear from National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy and Surface Transportation Board member Patrick Fuchs; President Biden has renominated both to fill second terms in their respective posts.
Early in the hearing, Homendy was asked about the status of the NTSB’s investigation into the cause of the March 26 cargo ship strike that led to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the Port of Baltimore, which resulted in the deaths of six roadway construction crew members.
Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) noted that an 89,000-ton container vessel stalled this week while transiting near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York Harbor.
“Thankfully, that vessel was guided by tugboats to continue its journey safely. But this is just another reminder that these situations aren’t one-offs,” said Cantwell. “I want to hear what other updates we have on [the Key Bridge collapse], and what can we do to protect bridges from strikes in the United States.”
NTSB investigators are still on the scene in Baltimore, with most still onboard the 984-foot-long cargo ship Dali, Homendy said. The ship lost power shortly before striking the bridge, and investigators are focusing on the ship’s electrical power system and circuit breakers.
Additionally, the NTSB’s highway safety team is examining the pier protection system and original bridge design and how it would be built according to today’s standards.
“We have a lot of work ahead,” said Homendy, noting that the board’s preliminary report on the bridge collapse won’t be issued until the first week in May.
“We still have work to do to conclude our East Palestine investigation.” — NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy NTSB.govSen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) — who along with then-Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) led the bipartisan effort in the Senate to secure emergency bridge reconstruction funding after the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River in August 2007 — asked what could be done to prevent what happened to the Key Bridge from happening again.
The NTSB has been investigating bridge strikes since 1967 and has made many related recommendations over the years, Homendy said. One recommendation, made decades ago, called on the U.S. Coast Guard to evaluate the types of vessels and shipping volumes moving along U.S. waterways, the bridges that cross them, previous bridge strikes and bridge protection systems.
At the time, the Coast Guard said it lacked the authority to analyze all those issues, Homendy said.
“There still is action that needs to occur to look at how shipping has changed over the years, how transportation has changed in our waterways, the types of vessels, containers and volumes of traffic that we’re seeing, and the bridge designs,” she said. “If I were at a state department of transportation, that’s what I would be looking at.”
More rail safety laws needed?
Meanwhile, Klobuchar and other senators asked Homendy about the status of railroad safety, particularly in the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern Railway train derailment last year in East Palestine, Ohio. Some wanted to know if Homendy agreed that the Railway Safety Act of 2023 — proposed in the weeks after the derailment in East Palestine — would prevent certain types of derailments from occurring.
The legislation would address several of NTSB’s open recommendations for improving safety, including giving more support to emergency first-responders who arrive at train derailments, Homendy noted.
“The requirement that carriers provide transportation service upon reasonable request works together with our reasonable rates and practices authority. These are critical protections for shippers.” — Patrick Fuchs, Surface Transportation Board stb.gov“We still have work to do to conclude our East Palestine investigation and issue recommendations, and that will come at the end of June,” she said. “But we do have 190 open rail [safety] recommendations that can be acted on now.”
Transparency helped improve service
Meanwhile, several senators peppered Fuchs on the STB’s actions to goad Class Is into fixing freight-rail service problems that plagued customers and shippers in recent years. For example, after receiving numerous complaints from shippers about significant increases in service disruptions, cancellations and embargoes, the STB expanded the Class Is’ service metrics reporting requirements, including on-time performance and employment data on the hiring and training of train crews. The board also ordered the Class Is to submit detailed service recovery plans and set time targets for tracking improvements.
The data reporting requirements increased transparency for shippers and helped the board monitor the railroads’ progress toward improvement, according to Fuchs.
Later in the hearing, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) wanted to know if Fuchs believed the “common carrier obligation” — the statutory duty of railroads to provide transportation or service upon reasonable request — needs greater clarification. Last year, Baldwin and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) introduced the bipartisan Reliable Rail Service Act, which would establish criteria for the STB to consider when it evaluates whether railroads are meeting their common carrier obligation to shippers. Baldwin and Marshall have said their bill would clarify the carrier obligation by taking a “common-sense approach” to addressing high freight-rail shipping costs and unreliable service for many customers.
The bill has strong support from rail shippers and rail labor unions, Baldwin said.
Fuchs declined to say whether he believed the common carrier obligation requires clarification — he would defer to the committee for that judgment, he said. But in a second term he would “faithfully execute” whatever Congress decided on the matter.
The common carrier obligation is the “foundational authority” of the STB, Fuchs responded.
“The requirement that carriers provide transportation service upon reasonable request works together with our reasonable rates and practices authority,” he said. “These are critical protections for shippers,” particularly those that lack few options for moving products to market.
