The BLET is urgently working to secure passage of the House Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024 (H.R. 8996) before Congress adjourns. In a Take Action alert issued today, BLET members and their families are asked to use the Take Action tool on the BLET National Division website to ask their member of Congress to sign on to Discharge Petition #20 (H. Res. 1560), which would bypass the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and let H.R. 8996 be called for a floor vote. Discharge Petition #20 was advanced by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), but needs more bi-partisan support to secure consideration of H.R. 8996. It’s important to advance this bill before Congress adjourns next month.

Discharge petitions are used when a Congressional committee sits on a piece of legislation. It’s a way to advance a bill, especially ones likely to garner bipartisan support, but it requires 218 members of Congress to sign-on for the bill to move forward.

Introduced on July 15 by Rep. Moulton and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), H.R. 8996 incorporates the Senate’s Railway Safety Act of 2023 (S. 576), but includes four additional safety provisions:

1. Mandatory Participation in C3RS by the Class I railroads.
2. State Departments of Transportation requirement to notify first responders about “Ask Rail” Hazardous Materials response application.
3. $1.5 billion per year in additional money for grade crossing separations.
4. Grant programs to develop and install the next generation of telematics systems.

Click here to Take Action.

At the inaugural run of Amtrak’s Borealis service on May 21, from left: Joel Mueller, BLET Minnesota SLB Chairman, Riley Richmond, BLET Division 27, and Chad Roehrich, BLET Midwest Regional Chairman-Amtrak GCA.

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Strong public interest in Amtrak’s new state-sponsored Borealis service between St. Paul and Chicago has propelled ridership past the 100,000 customer mark in just 22 weeks. BLET Amtrak General Chairman Pat Darcy said the level of ridership shows the public is hungry for more Amtrak expansion.

The BLET helped kick off the service on May 21 as Brother Riley Richmond, a member of BLET Division 27 in St. Cloud, Minn., worked as locomotive engineer for the train’s inaugural run. Also representing BLET at the ribbon cutting ceremony were Joel Mueller, BLET Minnesota State Legislative Board Chairman, and Chad Roehrich, BLET Midwest Regional Chairman-Amtrak General Committee of Adjustment.

Amtrak operates the daily Borealis service under contracts with Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was instrumental in helping to secure finding for the new service, along with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).