I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6165 
To improve the safety of transporting hazardous materials by rail and provide 
training and resources for first responders to protect communities from 
incidents involving the transportation of hazardous materials. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 25, 2006 
Mr. BARROW introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To improve the safety of transporting hazardous materials 
by rail and provide training and resources for first re-
sponders to protect communities from incidents involving 
the transportation of hazardous materials. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Training Responders for Accidents and Improving Noti-
fication Act’’ or the ‘‘TRAIN Act’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
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(1) Railroads move about 1,700,000 carloads of 
hazardous materials annually, about 6 percent of 
total freight rail traffic. 
(2) While the vast majority of shipments arrive 
safely at their destination, serious incidents involving 
these materials have the potential to cause wide-
spread disruption or injury. 
(3) On January 6, 2005, northbound Norfolk 
Southern freight train 192, while traveling 47 miles 
per hour through Graniteville, South Carolina, en-
countered an improperly lined switch that diverted 
the train from the main line onto an industry track, 
where it struck the unoccupied, parked train P22. 
(4) The collision derailed two locomotives and 
16 of the 42 freight cars of train 192, as well as the 
locomotive and one of the two cars of train P22. 
(5) Among the derailed cars from train 192 
were 3 tank cars containing chlorine, one of which 
was breached, releasing chlorine gas. 
(6) The train engineer and 8 other people died 
as a result of chlorine gas inhalation. More than 500 
people who suffered from respiratory difficulties 
were taken to local hospitals. Of these, 75 were ad-
mitted for treatment. Because of the chlorine re-
lease, about 5,400 people within a 1-mile radius of 
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the derailment site were evacuated for several days. 
Total damages exceeded $6,900,000. 
(7) The National Transportation Safety Board 
determined that the probable cause of the collision 
and derailment was the failure of the crew of train 
192 to return a main line switch to the normal posi-
tion after the crew completed work at an industry 
track. 
(8) Contributing to the failure was the absence 
of any feature or mechanism that would have re-
minded crewmembers of the switch position and thus 
would have prompted them to complete this final 
critical task before departing the work site. 
(9) As a result of the accident investigation, the 
National Transportation Safety Board made safety 
recommendations to the Federal Railroad Adminis-
tration. 
(10) It is appropriate for the Federal Railroad 
Administration to implement the National Transpor-
tation Safety Board’s recommendations, as improp-
erly lined switches is the leading cause of human 
factor-caused accidents. 
SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF NTSB RECOMMENDATIONS. 
Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue 
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regulations that implement the following recommendations 
contained in the National Transportation Safety Board’s 
railroad accident report entitled ‘‘Collision of Norfolk 
Southern Freight Train 192 With Standing Norfolk 
Southern Local Train P22 With Subsequent Hazardous 
Materials Release at Graniteville, South Carolina’’, adopt-
ed November 29, 2005: 
(1) Regulations that require, along mail lines in 
nonsignaled territory, railroads to install an auto-
matically activated device, independent of the switch 
banner, that will, visually or electronically, compel-
lingly capture the attention of employees involved 
with switch operations and clearly convey the status 
of the switch both in daylight and in darkness. 
(2) Regulations that require railroads, in non-
signaled territory and in the absence of switch posi-
tion indicator lights or other automated systems that 
provide train crews with advance notice of switch po-
sitions, to operate those trains at speeds that will 
allow them to be safely stopped in advance of mis-
aligned switches. 
(3) Regulations that require railroads to imple-
ment operating measures, including positioning tank 
cars toward the rear of trains and reducing speeds 
through populated areas, to minimize impact forces 
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from accidents and reduce the vulnerability of tank 
cars transporting chlorine, anhydrous ammonia, and 
other liquefied gases designated as poisonous by in-
halation. 
(4) Regulations that require railroads to pro-
vide emergency escape breathing apparatus for all 
crewmembers on freight trains carrying hazardous 
materials, along with appropriate training for such 
crewmembers on how to use the apparatus. 
SEC. 3. EMERGENCY RESPONDER GRANTS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Part B of subtitle V of title 49, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following new chapter: 
‘‘CHAPTER 225—EMERGENCY RESPONDER 
GRANTS 
‘‘Sec. 
‘‘22501. Emergency responder grants. 
‘‘§ 22501. Emergency responder grants 
‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Transportation 
shall make grants to fire departments for costs incurred 
in the conduct of activities to respond to incidents involv-
ing the transportation of hazardous materials by rail, in-
cluding costs of— 
‘‘(1) airborne chemical detection equipment; 
‘‘(2) air hazard detection equipment; 
‘‘(3) chemical identification kits; 
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