II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4954 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final rule setting 

minimum structural standards for railroad bridges, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2024 

Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue a final 

rule setting minimum structural standards for railroad 

bridges, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rail Bridge Safety and 

5 Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RAILROAD BRIDGE SAFETY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 20145 of title 49, United 

8 States Code is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘§ 20145. Railroad bridge safety 

10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(1) CLASS I RAILROAD; CLASS II RAILROAD; 

2 CLASS III RAILROAD; RAILROAD; RAILROAD CAR3 RIER.—The terms ‘Class I railroad’, ‘Class II rail4 road’, ‘Class III railroad’, ‘railroad’, and ‘railroad 

5 carrier’— 

6 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

7 (B), have the meanings given such terms in sec8 tion 20102; and 

9 ‘‘(B) do not include— 

10 ‘‘(i) the National Railroad Passenger 

11 Corporation (commonly referred to as ‘Am12 trak’); or 

13 ‘‘(ii) rail carriers that have the prin14 cipal purpose of providing commuter rail 

15 passenger transportation (as defined in 

16 section 24102). 

17 ‘‘(2) COMPONENT PART.—The term ‘component 

18 part’, with respect to a railroad bridge, includes the 

19 substructure, superstructure, deck, bearings, rail20 ings, joints, and the rails on the track of such 

21 bridge. 

22 ‘‘(3) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘Department’ 

23 means the Department of Transportation. 

24 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE REQUESTING PARTY.—The term 

25 ‘eligible requesting party’ means a party authorized 


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1 to request a bridge inspection report in accordance 

2 with section 417(d)(2)(A) of the Rail Safety Im3 provement Act of 2008 (49 U.S.C. 20103 note). 

4 ‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

5 the Secretary of Transportation. 

6 ‘‘(b) STRENGTHENING STANDARDS FOR RAILROAD

7 BRIDGES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 2 years 

9 after the date of the enactment of the Rail Bridge 

10 Safety and Transparency Act, the Secretary, using 

11 other standards within the Department as models, 

12 shall issue a final rule establishing minimum struc13 tural and safety standards for railroad bridges and 

14 their component parts, including— 

15 ‘‘(A) minimum requirements for a railroad 

16 bridge and its component parts to be classified 

17 in poor, fair, or good condition; and 

18 ‘‘(B) the amount of corrosion, cracking, 

19 spalling, and rusting permissible for each such 

20 condition. 

21 ‘‘(2) BRIDGE INSPECTION REPORTS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN INFORMA23 TION.—Not later than 2 years after the initial 

24 publication of the standards described in para25 graph (1), all railroads carriers shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) include information in their 

2 bridge inspection reports indicating wheth3 er each bridge for which such railroad car4 rier is responsible— 

5 ‘‘(I) meets minimum structural 

6 and safety standards; 

7 ‘‘(II) is in poor, fair, or good con8 dition; and 

9 ‘‘(III) has component parts in 

10 poor, fair, or good condition; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) for each bridge in poor condition, 

12 include— 

13 ‘‘(I) an estimate of how long the 

14 bridge can remain in service; 

15 ‘‘(II) a timeline for planned re16 pairs, rehabilitation, or replacement of 

17 the bridge; and 

18 ‘‘(III) an estimate of the cost to 

19 perform such actions. 

20 ‘‘(B) BRIDGE INSPECTION REPORT DATA21 BASE.— 

22 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 

23 years after the date of the enactment of 

24 the Rail Bridge Safety and Transparency 

25 Act, the Secretary shall develop, populate, 


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1 and manage a database of all bridge in2 spection reports received from railroad car3 riers, which shall be continuously updated 

4 with the most recent bridge conditions as 

5 indicated in bridge inspection reports pro6 vided to the Department. 

7 ‘‘(ii) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The 

8 Secretary shall make available to the pub9 lic a version of the database described in 

10 clause (i) that includes for each bridge in11 spection report only the following informa12 tion: 

13 ‘‘(I) The date of last inspection 

14 of the bridge. 

15 ‘‘(II) The location of the bridge. 

16 ‘‘(III) The owner of the bridge. 

17 ‘‘(IV) A determination of whether 

18 the bridge is in poor, fair, or good 

19 condition. 

20 ‘‘(V) Any other comments on the 

21 condition of the bridge disclosed by 

22 the owner, as indicated in the bridge 

23 inspection report. 

24 ‘‘(C) SUBMISSION DEADLINES.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) INITIAL REPORTS.—During the 

2 period beginning on the date of the enact3 ment of the Rail Bridge Safety and Trans4 parency Act and ending on the date on 

5 which the database required under sub6 paragraph (B) is first established— 

7 ‘‘(I) not later than 30 days after 

8 the receipt of a bridge inspection re9 port request from an eligible request10 ing party, the Secretary shall request 

11 a bridge inspection report from the 

12 railroad carrier concerned, and— 

13 ‘‘(aa) if the request is for 5 

14 or fewer railroad bridges, the 

15 railroad carrier concerned shall, 

16 not later than 30 days after the 

17 receipt of such request from the 

18 Secretary, submit the bridge in19 spection report to the Depart20 ment; or 

21 ‘‘(bb) if the request is be22 tween 6 and 50 railroad bridges, 

23 the railroad carrier concerned 

24 shall, not later than 90 days 

25 after the receipt of such request 


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1 from the Secretary, submit the 

2 bridge inspection report to the 

3 Department; and 

4 ‘‘(II) not later than 14 days after 

5 the receipt of a bridge inspection re6 port submitted in accordance with 

7 item (aa) or (bb) of subclause (I), the 

8 Secretary shall submit such bridge in9 spection report to the eligible request10 ing party. 

11 ‘‘(ii) FUTURE REPORTS.—After the 

12 date on which the database required under 

13 subparagraph (B) is first established, the 

14 Secretary shall— 

15 ‘‘(I) not later than 30 days after 

16 the receipt of a bridge inspection re17 port request from an eligible request18 ing party— 

19 ‘‘(aa) if the requested bridge 

20 inspection report is available in 

21 the database, submit such report 

22 to the eligible requesting party; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(bb) if the requested infor25 mation is not available in the 


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1 database, request a bridge in2 spection report from the railroad 

3 carrier concerned, and— 

4 ‘‘(AA) if the request is 

5 for 5 or fewer railroad 

6 bridges, the railroad carrier 

7 concerned shall, not later 

8 than 30 days after the re9 ceipt of such request from 

10 the Secretary, submit the 

11 bridge inspection report to 

12 the Department; or 

13 ‘‘(BB) if the request is 

14 between 6 and 50 railroad 

15 bridges, the railroad carrier 

16 concerned shall, not later 

17 than 90 days after the re18 ceipt of such request from 

19 the Secretary, submit the 

20 bridge inspection report to 

21 the Department; and 

22 ‘‘(II) not later than 14 days after 

23 the receipt of a bridge inspection re24 port submitted by a railroad carrier in 

25 accordance with subitem (AA) or 


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1 (BB) of item (bb), submit such bridge 

2 inspection report to the eligible re3 questing party. 

4 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION OF OVERSIGHT OF COASTAL

5 RAILROAD BRIDGES.—The Secretary, in coordination 

6 with the Commandant of the Coast Guard, shall issue a 

7 final rule establishing minimum structural and safety 

8 standards for movable railroad bridges and railroad draw9 bridges spanning the navigable waters of the United 

10 States, including— 

11 ‘‘(1) the minimum structural and safety re12 quirements for each such bridge and its component 

13 parts, including movable parts; 

14 ‘‘(2) the requirements that each such bridge 

15 and its component parts shall meet in order to be 

16 considered to be in poor, fair, or good condition; 

17 ‘‘(3) the requirement that each such bridge be 

18 inspected at the same frequency as railroad bridges 

19 that are not located above navigable waters; and 

20 ‘‘(4) requirements for safety inspections that 

21 are required if a railroad carrier shifts from in-per22 son to remote operation of such a bridge. 

23 ‘‘(d) FLAGGING OWNERSHIP OF RAILROAD

24 BRIDGES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the 

25 enactment of the Rail Bridge Safety and Transparency 


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1 Act, each railroad carrier that owns 1 or more railroad 

2 bridges shall post a placard or sign in area that is visible 

3 to oncoming traffic on (or adjacent to) both ends of each 

4 such bridge that identifies— 

5 ‘‘(1) the railroad carrier that owns the bridge; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(2) a phone number through which a member 

8 of the public can report visible hazards or concerns 

9 with respect to such bridge. 

10 ‘‘(e) RAIL BRIDGE SAFETY CONCERN REPORTING

11 SYSTEM.— 

12 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 2 years 

13 after the date of the enactment of the Rail Bridge 

14 Safety and Transparency Act, the Secretary shall es15 tablish a system, to be known as the Rail Bridge 

16 Safety Concern Reporting System (referred to in 

17 this subsection as the ‘System’), to report safety 

18 concerns regarding the condition of railroad bridges. 

19 ‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT.—In developing the Sys20 tem, the Secretary shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) streamline and simplify the data 

22 management process within the Department; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(B) reduce duplicative efforts and maxi25 mize available resources, including by inteVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:11 Aug 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4954.IS S4954

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1 grating the Alleged Violation Reporting Form 

2 of the Federal Railroad Administration into the 

3 System. 

4 ‘‘(3) SYSTEM FUNCTIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) REPORTING SAFETY CONCERNS.— 

6 The Secretary shall use the System to permit 

7 any State, political subdivision of a State, or 

8 Tribe to report to the Secretary safety concerns 

9 regarding the condition of a railroad bridge 

10 based on certain factors, including— 

11 ‘‘(i) physical appearance; 

12 ‘‘(ii) extreme shaking or excess move13 ment during the passage of a train or an 

14 extreme weather event; 

15 ‘‘(iii) components of the railroad 

16 bridge falling onto surrounding areas; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) any other concern that the Sec18 retary determines to be significant to the 

19 structural or operational safety of the 

20 bridge. 

21 ‘‘(B) INVESTIGATIONS.—If the Secretary 

22 determines a report submitted pursuant to sub23 paragraph (A) includes a reasonable safety con24 cern regarding the structural or operational 

25 safety of a bridge, the Secretary shall invesVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:11 Aug 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4954.IS S4954

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1 tigate such safety concern to determine the risk 

2 posed by the railroad bridge to— 

3 ‘‘(i) the operation of the railroad con4 cerned; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the safety of railroad workers; 

6 ‘‘(iii) the safety the general public; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(iv) the safety of individuals who tra9 verse on, under, or near the railroad 

10 bridge, including pedestrians, cyclists, and 

11 individuals traveling by motor vehicle or 

12 boat. 

13 ‘‘(C) REPAIR OR SUSPENSION OF USE.—If 

14 the Secretary determines that a safety concern 

15 investigated pursuant to subparagraph (B) 

16 poses a significant threat to the structural or 

17 operational safety of the bridge or the safety of 

18 any of the parties described in clauses (i) 

19 through (iv) of subparagraph (B), the Secretary 

20 shall direct the Administrator of the Federal 

21 Railroad Administration to coordinate with the 

22 railroad concerned to establish a plan that ad23 dresses the safety concern, which may include— 

24 ‘‘(i) requiring the immediate repair of 

25 the railroad bridge; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) imposing weight or speed restric2 tions on the bridge; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) any action required by the Sec4 retary pursuant to section 20104(a) if the 

5 Secretary determines that such safety con6 cern— 

7 ‘‘(I) involves an unsafe condition 

8 or practice or a combination of unsafe 

9 conditions and practices; or 

10 ‘‘(II) causes an emergency situa11 tion involving an imminent hazard of 

12 death, personal injury, or significant 

13 harm to the environment. 

14 ‘‘(D) CIVIL PENALTIES.— 

15 ‘‘(i) FAILURE TO FINALIZE PLAN.—If 

16 a plan required under subparagraph (C) is 

17 not finalized within 90 days after a deter18 mination by the Secretary pursuant to 

19 such subparagraph and the relevant rail20 road bridge remains in operation, the Sec21 retary shall impose a civil penalty to the 

22 railroad concerned in an amount equal to 

23 $1,000 per week until such plan is final24 ized. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) COMPLETION OF REPAIRS.—If a 

2 safety concern determined by the Secretary 

3 pursuant to subparagraph (C)(iii)(II) to 

4 pose an imminent hazard of death, per5 sonal injury, or significant harm to the en6 vironment is not repaired within 1 year 

7 after such determination and the relevant 

8 railroad bridge remains in operation, the 

9 Secretary shall impose a civil penalty to 

10 the railroad concerned in an amount equal 

11 to $20,000 per week until such bridge is 

12 repaired. 

13 ‘‘(4) DISCLOSURE OF REPORTED SAFETY CON14 CERNS.—The Secretary shall publish, on a publicly 

15 available website of the Department of Transpor16 tation, a notice of each safety concern involving a 

17 railroad bridge that the Secretary determines, pursu18 ant to paragraph (3)(C)(iii)(II) to pose an imminent 

19 hazard of death, personal injury, or significant harm 

20 to the environment, which shall include— 

21 ‘‘(A) the location of the bridge; 

22 ‘‘(B) the owner of the bridge; 

23 ‘‘(C) whether the bridge is in active use; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(D) whether the railroad that owns the 

2 bridge has submitted a plan to address such 

3 safety concern. 

4 ‘‘(5) FUNDS FOR BRIDGE SAFETY PER5 SONNEL.— 

6 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA7 TIONS.—In addition to the amounts referred to 

8 in subparagraph (B), there are authorized to be 

9 appropriated to the Department such additional 

10 sums as may be necessary to hire additional 

11 bridge safety personnel to carry out this sub12 section. 

13 ‘‘(B) USE OF CIVIL PENALTIES.—All 

14 amounts collected from the civil penalties im15 posed pursuant to paragraph (3)(D) and sec16 tion 1327(c) shall be reserved for hiring addi17 tional bridge safety personnel to carry out this 

18 section. 

19 ‘‘(f) RANDOMIZED OBSERVATION OF RAILROAD

20 BRIDGES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

22 ‘‘(A) NUMBER OF ANNUAL OBSERVA23 TIONS.—The Secretary shall annually conduct 

24 at least 1 randomized bridge observation for 


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1 every 500 railroad bridges owned by a railroad 

2 carrier. 

3 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION OF STANDARDS.—For 

4 each observation conducted pursuant to this 

5 subsection, the Secretary shall inspect the con6 dition of each bridge and its component parts 

7 in accordance with the standards established 

8 pursuant to subsection (c)(1). 

9 ‘‘(C) SMALL RAILROAD OBSERVATION

10 POOL.—If a railroad carrier owns fewer than 

11 500 railroad bridges, such railroad carrier shall 

12 be included in a pool of railroad carriers. Not 

13 fewer than 5 railroad carriers in such pool shall 

14 be selected annually for a randomized observa15 tion of at least 1 railroad bridge owned by each 

16 selected railroad carrier. 

17 ‘‘(D) ADVANCE NOTICE.—In carrying out 

18 randomized bridge observations under this sec19 tion, the Secretary shall not give a railroad car20 rier more than 3 days of advance notice of the 

21 timing of an observation. 

22 ‘‘(2) REVIEW.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

24 compare the result of each bridge observation to 

25 the reported conditions of the applicable bridge 


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1 in the bridge inspection report provided by the 

2 railroad carrier. 

3 ‘‘(B) DISCREPANCIES.—In the event of a 

4 discrepancy between the result of a bridge ob5 servation and the conditions of such railroad 

6 bridge documented in the most recent bridge in7 spection report, the Secretary shall work with 

8 the railroad carrier concerned to address defi9 ciencies in the inspection system of such rail10 road carrier, including by— 

11 ‘‘(i) improving the training of inspec12 tors; 

13 ‘‘(ii) increasing the frequency of in14 spections; 

15 ‘‘(iii) addressing inspector staffing 

16 shortages; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) revising inspection criteria. 

18 ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL INSPECTIONS.—For rail19 road carriers that the Secretary has found to 

20 have a pattern of discrepancies under subpara21 graph (D), the Secretary shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) increase the number of random23 ized observations from the baseline set in 

24 paragraph (1); 


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1 ‘‘(ii) establish a priority list of rail2 road bridges to be subject to additional ob3 servations, based on factors such as the 

4 condition of the bridge, the bridge length, 

5 the location of the bridge, the safety risk 

6 to the community should the bridge fail, 

7 the type of freight carried over the bridge, 

8 and the frequency of service over the 

9 bridge; 

10 ‘‘(iii) carry out such additional obser11 vations with not more than 3 days of ad12 vance notice provided to the railroad car13 rier; and 

14 ‘‘(iv) ensure that such additional ob15 servations examine the condition of the 

16 bridge and are additive to, not a replace17 ment of, the normal track inspections, in18 cluding visual track inspections, required 

19 by the Department. 

20 ‘‘(D) PATTERN OF DISCREPANCIES.— 

21 ‘‘(i) DEFINED TERM.—In this sub22 paragraph, the term ‘pattern of discrep23 ancies’, with respect to a railroad carrier— 

24 ‘‘(I) means the Secretary has 

25 identified 5 or more instances in 


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1 which conditions reported on the 

2 bridge inspection report of such rail3 road carrier differed from the results 

4 of an observation conducted by the 

5 Secretary pursuant to this subsection; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(II) does not include sudden 

8 changes in the condition of a railroad 

9 bridge due to a significant event, such 

10 as an earthquake or other natural dis11 aster. 

12 ‘‘(ii) EFFECT.—If the Secretary iden13 tifies, through randomized observations of 

14 railroad bridges of a railroad carrier, a 

15 pattern of discrepancies between the rail16 road carrier’s bridge inspection report and 

17 multiple observations— 

18 ‘‘(I) such railroad carrier— 

19 ‘‘(aa) shall be considered to 

20 be in violation of this chapter; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(bb) shall be subject to the 

23 civil penalties set forth in section 

24 21301; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) not later than 90 days after 

2 such identification, the Secretary shall 

3 submit a written report to Congress 

4 that describes such discrepancies.’’. 

5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The chapter analysis 

6 for chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code, is amend7 ed by striking the item relating to section 20145 and in8 serting the following: 

‘‘20145. Railroad bridge safety.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO THE RAIL SAFETY 

10 IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2008. 

11 Section 417(d)(2) of the Rail Safety Improvement 

12 Act of 2008 (49 U.S.C. 20103 note) is amended— 

13 (1) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting 

14 the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 

16 ‘‘(i) JURISDICTIONAL REQUESTS.—A 

17 Member of Congress, a State, or political 

18 subdivision of a State may file a request 

19 with the Secretary for a public version of 

20 the bridge inspection report or reports gen21 erated under subsection (b)(5) for bridges 

22 located in the congressional district or 

23 State of such Member of Congress or in 

24 the jurisdiction of such State or political 

25 subdivision. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) REQUESTS FROM COMMIT2 TEES.—The Chair or Ranking Member of 

3 the Committee on Transportation and In4 frastructure of the House of Representa5 tives or the Chair or Ranking Member of 

6 Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

7 Transportation of the Senate may file a re8 quest with the Secretary for a public 

9 version of the bridge inspection report or 

10 reports generated under subsection (b)(5) 

11 for any bridge in the United States;’’. 

12 (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (B), (C), 

13 and (D) as subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E), respec14 tively; 

15 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—A State or political 

18 subdivision of a State may request not more 

19 than 50 bridge inspection reports under sub20 paragraph (A)(i) during any 6-month period.’’; 

21 and 

22 (4) in subparagraph (C), as redesignated, by 

23 striking ‘‘If the Secretary determines that the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:11 Aug 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4954.IS S4954

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1 quest is reasonable, the Secretary’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘The Secretary’’. 

Æ 


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