‘‘(C) ANNUAL
REVIEWS.—The Secretary 
shall conduct an annual review to ensure that 
each applicable railroad carrier is in compliance 
with its program. 
‘‘(c) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of the Crude-By-Rail Safety Act, 
each applicable railroad carrier shall establish a confiden-
tial close call reporting system. 
‘‘(d) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—Each applicable rail-
road carrier shall— 
‘‘(1) provide a safe environment for its employ-
ees to report unsafe events and conditions; 
‘‘(2) for unsafe events and conditions reported 
within the scope of a confidential close call reporting 
system, ensure its employees are protected from rail-
road carrier discipline; 
‘‘(3) use information collected through the con-
fidential close call reporting system to develop and 
implement targeted corrective actions, as appro-
priate; and 
‘‘(4) use information collected by the programs 
to supplement inspection data in identifying safety 
issues and emerging risks before they develop into 
accidents. 
‘‘(e) CONSENSUS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Each applicable railroad 
carrier shall consult with, employ good faith with, 
and use its best efforts to reach agreement with all 
of its directly affected employees, including any non-
profit employee labor organization representing a 
class or craft of directly affected employees of the 
applicable railroad carrier, on the development and 
implementation of the proposed program. 
‘‘(2) STATEMENTS.—If an applicable railroad 
carrier and its directly affected employees, including 
any nonprofit employee labor organization rep-
resenting a class or craft of directly affected employ-
ees of the applicable railroad carrier, cannot reach 
consensus on the development and implementation of 
the proposed program, then directly affected employ-
ees and such organization may file a statement with 
the Secretary of Transportation explaining their 
views on the proposed program on which consensus 
was not reached. The Secretary shall consider such 
views during review of the proposed program under 
subsection (b)(3)(A). 
‘‘(f) VOLUNTARY PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT.—Any 
railroad carrier that is not an applicable railroad carrier 
may voluntarily establish a program under this section. 
This section, and any regulations promulgated under this 
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section, shall apply to a program that is voluntarily estab-
lished. 
‘‘(g) USE OF DATA.—The Secretary of Transpor-
tation may use the confidential close call reporting data— 
‘‘(1) when implementing or updating the Fed-
eral Railroad Administration’s National Inspection 
Plan; 
‘‘(2) when performing focused inspections; or 
‘‘(3) when developing agency rulemakings and 
guidance, as appropriate. 
‘‘(h) DEFINITION OF APPLICABLE RAILROAD CAR-
RIER.—In this section, the term ‘applicable railroad car-
rier’ means— 
‘‘(1) a railroad carrier that is a Class I rail-
road; 
‘‘(2) a railroad carrier that has inadequate safe-
ty performance, as determined by the Secretary; or 
‘‘(3) a railroad carrier that provides intercity 
rail passenger or commuter rail passenger transpor-
tation. 
‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Trans-
portation such sums as may be necessary to implement 
this section and to support the nationwide implementation, 
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as the Secretary determines appropriate, of confidential 
close call reporting system programs.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
for subchapter II of chapter 201 of title 49, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘20168. Confidential close call reporting systems.’’. 
SEC. 12. HIGH-HAZARD FLAMMABLE TRAIN LIABILITY 
STUDY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans-
portation shall contract with the Transportation Research 
Board of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a 
study on high-hazard flammable train liability. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The study conducted under sub-
section (a) shall evaluate— 
(1) the level of insurance, including self insur-
ance, available in the private market against the full 
liability potential for damages arising from an inci-
dent involving a high-hazard flammable train; 
(2) the ability of the level and availability of in-
surance referred to in paragraph (1)— 
(A) to address externalities that exist be-
cause of gaps between insurance coverage and 
liability risk; 
(B) to equitably allocate risk and financial 
responsibility for claims; 
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(C) to ensure that rail carriers have suffi-
cient financial capacity to pay claims to those 
affected by high consequence incidents in a 
timely manner; and 
(D) to ensure that rail carriers and ship-
pers of high-hazard flammable trains can con-
tinue to operate despite the risk of catastrophic 
disaster; and 
(3) the potential applicability to high-hazard 
flammable trains of— 
(A) a liability regime modeled after section 
170 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 
U.S.C. 2210); and 
(B) a liability regime modeled after sub-
title 2 of title XXI of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 300aa–10 et seq.). 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Transportation Research 
Board of the National Academy of Sciences shall submit 
a report containing the results of the study and rec-
ommendations for addressing high hazard flammable train 
liability issues to— 
(1) the Secretary of Transportation; 
(2) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate; and 
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