[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 10, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H3068-H3069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FRA SAFETY DATA IMPROVEMENT ACT

  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4925) to require the Administrator of the Federal Railroad 
Administration to implement certain recommendations for management and 
collection of railroad safety data.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4925

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``FRA Safety Data Improvement 
     Act''.

[[Page H3069]]

  


     SEC. 2. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT AND COLLECTION OF 
                   RAILROAD SAFETY DATA.

       (a) In General.--The Administrator of the Federal Railroad 
     Administration shall develop a plan, and a timeline to carry 
     out such plan, to implement the recommendations from the 
     Inspector General Report No. ST2017045 of the Department of 
     Transportation, issued on May 3, 2017, to the greatest extent 
     possible, to improve the Federal Railroad Administration's 
     management and collection of railroad safety data.
       (b) Implementation.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit the 
     plan and timeline developed under subsection (a) to the 
     Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 
     of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
     and Transportation of the Senate.
       (2) Report.--The Administrator shall report annually to the 
     committees on the implementation of such plan until 
     implementation is complete.

     SEC. 3. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.

       No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 
     requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be carried 
     out using amounts otherwise authorized.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Mitchell) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Capuano) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous material on H.R. 4925.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the FRA Safety Data Improvement Act requires the Federal 
Railroad Administration to develop a timeline and plan to implement 
improvements to its safety data collection and reporting system.
  Rail safety is critical to our Nation, and in order to ensure that 
regulations are rooted in accurate data, the FRA must make improvements 
to its data collection system.
  Safety data is important to railroad safety, and failures of that 
concern us. Effective safety data collection and reporting is critical 
to ensuring railroad safety.
  The Department of Transportation inspector general published a report 
outlining issues with the data collection and reporting for safety 
data. The report made a number of recommendations to standardizing 
certain procedures and implementing effective and uniform training 
programs. Additionally, the report recommends the FRA update its 
reporting guidance to clear up discrepancies in their reporting forms.
  In summary, the bill requires the FRA, the Federal Railroad 
Administration, to implement the recommendations from the DOT Office of 
Inspector General report. Additionally, it requires the FRA to develop 
a timeline and plan to implement the guidelines and recommendations. 
The bill ensures the FRA addresses these discrepancies by a report 
requiring FRA to annually update Congress on its progress until 
completion.
  I believe this bill will improve the safety of our railways. Rail 
safety is obviously critical to our Nation and our infrastructure; and 
to ensure that safety regulations are effective and clear, they must be 
updated.
  I again thank Chairman Shuster, Chairman Denham, and Mr. Gottheimer 
for working with me, as well as my colleague, Mr. Capuano.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, again, this is a relatively easy bill and a bipartisan 
bill. It simply requires that the FRA train people when they report 
incidents of safety, that they report them in a uniform manner so that 
when somebody goes to look to see how many accidents there were or a 
certain type of accident, they can compare apples to apples instead of 
apples to oranges. It is kind of simple. It is a straightforward bill 
and, again, it is bipartisan.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer), the author of this bill.
  Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Shuster and Ranking 
Member DeFazio for their leadership on the Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee, working with me on a bipartisan basis on the 
FRA Safety Data Improvement Act. Additionally, I want to thank 
Congressman Mitchell for helping colead this important bill.
  In New Jersey, our rails and tunnels are literally crumbling. In a 
political environment, that is all too often polarized. Democrats and 
Republicans can certainly find common ground on our infrastructure 
being deficient, degrading, and incurring accidents that are becoming 
all too regular.
  The American Society of Civil Engineers gave America a D-plus 
infrastructure rating on their scorecard. New Jersey also received an 
overall D-plus, with rail and transit in particularly bad shape.
  Bergen County, in my district, is the worst in the Northeast for 
railway crossing crashes. America's infrastructure failure is leading 
to more and more accidents. In fact, recently, we have seen fatal 
Amtrak and New Jersey Transit crashes in Hoboken, New Jersey, 
Washington State, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
  We simply can't afford to sit idly by, punting on this urgent need. 
We need infrastructure investment, but we also need to proactively 
improve our safety procedures and processes. We need to take on safety 
in this country. And for all we pay in taxes and tickets, both of which 
I think are far too high, we cannot play games with the safety of our 
families and children. From administration to administration, we can't 
have inconsistencies or delays in implementing rail safety rules.
  I am proud to have led on this bipartisan bill to secure America's 
rails with real safety provisions. The bipartisan FRA Safety Data 
Improvement Act improves and standardizes reporting and training around 
railway accidents on railroads like Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. By 
better standardizing reporting requirements, we can leverage big 
datasets to improve safety and make smarter decisions. It does so my 
implementing the DOT's inspector general report and ensuring reporting 
to Congress on compliance.
  The IG found that the Federal Railroad Administration had taken some 
steps to improve data reporting, but it still lacks standardized 
reporting and training. This bill codifies steps suggested by the IG, 
providing more certainty in the safety of our rails.
  By allowing us to better leverage bill datasets--and the key here is 
putting big data to work--this bill will save lives. I urge support and 
passage of the FRA Safety Data Improvement Act.
  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Speaker, this bill and the previous one we 
discussed reflect the bipartisan commitment to our Nation's 
infrastructure and to a safe infrastructure. I appreciate my 
colleagues' support in working jointly in bringing these bills forward. 
I urge my colleagues to join all of us in supporting this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Mitchell) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4925.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________