Arlington, VA-The American Consumer Institute (ACI) has joined a coalition of free-market organizations in a letter urging Senate committee leaders to reject inclusion of the Railway Safety Act of 2025 (H.R. 928) in the surface transportation reauthorization.
The coalition argues that a mandatory two-person crew requirement would not have prevented the 2023 East Palestine derailment, noting that the train had a three-person crew and that the National Transportation Safety Board did not cite crew size as a factor. The signatories also point to Federal Railroad Administration reviews in 2016 and 2019 that found no reliable evidence linking crew size to safety. They warn that codifying the mandate would raise shipping and household costs, lock today’s technology into law, and hinder efforts to modernize the nation’s supply chain.
Read the coalition letter here.
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