WASHINGTON, D.C. — Very often after a national tragedy, there's talk of legislative reform to address the underlying causes, only to have that talk fade as time passes. For years that looked like that was going to be the case with the Railway Safety Act of 2023.
In the days following the train derailment and fire in East Palestine, Ohio, in February of 2023, then Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance came together to introduce the legislation aimed at preventing such a tragedy from happening again.
"Congress can legislate a solution to this problem and that's exactly what I'm going to try to do," Vance told News 5 in February of 2023.
The bipartisan legislation called for, among other things, advanced notification of first responders, tougher tank car standards, increased investment in hotbox detectors and a new design for hazardous tank cars.
The legislation, though, faced immediate pushback from the rail industry on many items, including the requirement for trains to carry a minimum of two-person crews.
It was never brought to the floor for a vote, though. When Sen. Bernie Moreno replaced Sherrod Brown in the Senate last year, he told News 5 he planned to bring it back.
"We're going to get that bill across the finish line, that's going to be something we're going to work on," Moreno said in January of 2025. "We're going to take JD's bill, we're going to get that across the finish line because we need to make certain that if something were to happen in East Palestine never happens again."
But after a year, there had seemingly been no movement until this week's introduction of the Railway Safety Act of 2026, with Moreno joined by Vance's replacement in the Senate, Senator Jon Husted, as co-sponsors. Husted told News 5 that there was no question it needed a new push.
"It lost a little momentum right? After the train derailment happened, the recovery happened yes people were dragging their feet trying to run out the clock on this," said Husted. "But those of us who are resilient about it are going to continue to fight to make rail safety better for America, better in Ohio."
Never losing hope was the Northeast Ohio-based Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, which pushed hard for the bill's reintroduction for the protection of their members and the American people.
"There's 80 million Americans that live in the danger zone close to railroad tracks, within a 5 to 7 mile radius, and so this is, if anything calls for bi-partisanship, this is it," said the union's President Mark Wallace. "I know that Vice President Vance committed that he was going to reform rail safety and he did that as Senator with Sherrod Brown when they authored the original Railway Safety Act, and I think that he's honoring that commitment. And I think that Senator Husted and Senator Moreno are following up with that."
The 2023 version was never brought to the floor for a vote because then Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, didn't believe there was enough support from Republicans to pass it. A hurdle Husted thinks they can clear.
"We have Democrat co-sponsors, we have Republicans who are leading on this bill with an even number of Republicans and Democrats who see this as something that needs to happen," Husted said. "I hope to take it to that next level, to get a full vote in the Senate, to get it passed and get it to the president's desk so that it will become law."
To that end, News 5 asked Vice President Vance one year ago this month if the administration would, in fact, support what he, as senator, tried to pass.
"The president endorsed the Rail Safety Act, of course when it came out and so certainly I think we can say with confidence the president shares my view that we need some common sense rail safety," Vance said during a visit to East Palestine in February of 2025. "It's something I think that we have a much better shot at with Republicans in charge... and so yeah I think that things are a little bit different this time and we're going to make sure we get this right."
