I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2515 
To provide for a grant program for adoption of certain telematics systems 
onboard freight railcars, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 31, 2025 
Mr. NEHLS (for himself and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-
nology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for a grant program for adoption of certain 
telematics systems onboard freight railcars, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Tank Car 
Modernization Act of 2025’’. 
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purposes of gathering information on maintenance 
requirements (and enables railcar owners, operators, 
and shippers to identify railcars that could become 
a hazard)— 
(A) railcar impact; 
(B) wheel or wheel bearing temperature; 
(C) whether a hand brake is on or off; 
(D) whether a hatch is open or closed; and 
(E) internal railcar temperature. 
(4) Increasing the efficiency of railcar utiliza-
tion in the North American freight railcar fleet. 
(5) Reducing reliance on human and manual 
data capture, reducing the risk of errors due to data 
latency and timeliness related to freight railcar data 
and information. 
(6) Offering development of alerts and triggers 
to capture and transmit freight railcar mechanical 
issues to the railroad operator for action. 
(7) Ability to communicate events real-time to 
a wide variety of stakeholders. 
(d) GRANT USE PRIORITIZATION.—In selecting re-
cipients of grants under this section, the Administrator 
shall prioritize installation of onboard freight railcar 
telematic systems or onboard freight railcar gateway de-
vices in the following order of priority: 
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(1) Newly built freight railcars manufactured 
by a qualified manufacturer in a qualified facility. 
(2) Freight railcars entering a certification 
event in a qualified facility. 
(3) Freight railcars entering a shopping event 
or maintenance event in a qualified facility. 
(e) FREIGHT RAILCAR TYPE PRIORITIZATION.— 
After establishing the priority requirements under sub-
section (c), the Administrator shall further ensure that the 
freight railcar types eligible to receive such an installation 
be considered in the following order of priority: 
(1) Tank cars in ‘‘TIH/PIH’’ (toxic inhalation 
products) service. 
(2) Tank cars in Class I, II, and III flammable 
service. 
(3) Tank cars in hazardous materials service. 
(4) Tank cars in specialized service. 
(5) Other tank cars. 
(6) All other freight railcars. 
(f) LIMITATION.—To be eligible for any expenditure 
of funds under this section, a freight railcar and any sen-
sitive technology relating to such railcar shall comply with 
the requirements of section 20171 of title 49, United 
States Code. 
(g) REPORT BY SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Transportation shall submit to the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen-
ate and the Committee on Transportation and Infra-
structure of the House of Representatives a report 
on the implementation and effects of the grant pro-
gram established under this section. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The report required under 
paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum, the fol-
lowing: 
(A) The number of railcars equipped with 
telematics devices using funds provided under 
this section. 
(B) The cost of equipping such railcars. 
(C) The number of safety incidents involv-
ing such railcars reported to the Federal Rail-
road Administration. 
(D) Anecdotal experience of grant recipi-
ents relating to the deployment of telematics 
devices. 
(E) Any legislative recommendations relat-
ing to the grant program established under 
paragraph (1). 
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(3) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The report re-
quired under paragraph (1) shall be made publicly 
available to the maximum extent practicable without 
compromising confidentiality or security. 
(4) CONSULTATION.—In preparing the report 
required under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
consult with Federal agencies and stakeholders, as 
appropriate, to gather technical, operational, and 
safety-related data. 
(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-
nitions apply: 
(1) ONBOARD FREIGHT RAILCAR TELEMATICS 
SYSTEM; ONBOARD FREIGHT RAILCAR GATEWAY DE-
VICE.—The 
terms 
‘‘onboard 
freight 
railcar 
telematics system’’ and ‘‘onboard freight railcar 
gateway device’’ mean the telematics or gateway de-
vice physically installed on a freight railcar that is 
owned by a railcar owner that collects and transmits 
data about the railcar asset. 
(2) 
TELEMATICS.—The 
term 
‘‘telematics’’ 
means a technology that— 
(A) 
relies 
on 
telecommunications, 
informatics, and computer and data processing; 
(B) generates data and informatics from 
gateway devices fixed to railcars and provides 
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for the exchange of information over a distance 
using battery or solar powered wireless connec-
tions; and 
(C) includes the method upon which 
freight railcars are monitored by using GPS 
technology through a gateway device using on- 
board diagnostics to plot a railcar’s movements 
and, if applicable, gather railcar equipment 
health and condition data from other onboard 
railcar sensors when applied. 
(3) GATEWAY DEVICE.—The term ‘‘gateway de-
vice’’ means a network hardware or software node 
used in freight railcar telecommunications that— 
(A) connects two networks with different 
transmission protocols together; 
(B) serves as an entry and exit point for 
a network as all data collected from the railcar 
must pass through or communicate with the 
gateway prior to being routed; 
(C) are distinct from routers or switches in 
that they communicate using more than one 
protocol to connect multiple networks; and 
(D) may be any device on a freight railcar 
that is embedded with electronics, software, 
sensors, or other connectivity, that enables the 
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