I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3410 

To require Surface Transportation Board consideration of the impacts of 

certain railroad transactions on local communities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 30, 2009 

Ms. BEAN (for herself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. ROSKAM, Ms. 

BERKLEY, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. 

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. KIND, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. 

VISCLOSKY, and Mrs. HALVORSON) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require Surface Transportation Board consideration of 

the impacts of certain railroad transactions on local communities, 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 ‘‘Taking Responsible 

5 Action for Community Safety Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EFFECT OF MERGERS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES 

2 AND RAIL PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION. 

3 Section 11324 of title 49, United States Code, is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a)— 

6 (A) by striking the last sentence and in7 serting ‘‘The Board shall hold public hearings 

8 on the proposed transaction, including public 

9 hearings in the affected communities, unless the 

10 Board determines that public hearings are not 

11 necessary in the public interest.’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (b)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘which involves the merger 

14 or control of at least two Class I railroads,’’ 

15 and inserting ‘‘with respect to a transaction 

16 that involves at least one Class I railroad,’’; 

17 (B) by inserting ‘‘the effect on the public 

18 interest, including’’ after ‘‘the Board shall con19 sider’’; 

20 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘on the 

21 public interest’’; 

22 (D) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para23 graph (4); 

24 (E) by striking the period at the end of 

25 paragraph (5) and inserting a semicolon; and 


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1 (F) by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraphs: 

3 ‘‘(6) the safety and environmental effects of the 

4 proposed transaction, including the effects on local 

5 communities, such as public safety, grade crossing 

6 safety, hazardous materials transportation safety, 

7 emergency response time, noise, and socioeconomic 

8 impacts; and 

9 ‘‘(7) the effect of the proposed transaction on 

10 intercity rail passenger transportation and commuter 

11 rail passenger transportation, as defined by section 

12 24102 of this title.’’; 

13 (3) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), (e), 

14 and (f) as subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g) and in15 serting a new subsection (c) as follows: 

16 ‘‘(c) The Board shall approve and authorize a trans17 action under this section when it finds the transaction is 

18 consistent with the public interest. The Board shall not 

19 approve a transaction described in subsection (b) if it finds 

20 that the transaction’s impacts on safety and on all affected 

21 communities, as defined under subsection (b), outweigh 

22 the transportation benefits of the transaction. The Board 

23 may impose conditions governing a transaction under this 

24 section, including conditions to mitigate the effects of the 

25 transaction on local communities.’’; 


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1 (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated, by strik2 ing ‘‘The Board shall approve’’ and all that follows 

3 through ‘‘the transaction, including’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘The conditions the Board may impose under this 

5 section include’’; and 

6 (5) in subsection (e), as redesignated, by strik7 ing ‘‘the merger or control of at least two Class I 

8 railroads, as defined by the Board’’ and inserting ‘‘a 

9 transaction described in subsection (b)’’. 

10 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

11 The amendments made in this Act shall be applied 

12 to all transactions that have not been approved by the 

13 Board as of August 1, 2008. 

Æ 


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