Deluzio Report Highlights Urgency of Rail Safety for Western Pennsylvania, Finds 95% of Constituents Live Within Five Miles of Freight Rail Lines

CARNEGIE, PA – Today, Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) released a report he commissioned from the Congressional Research Service that investigates how close his 764,864 Western Pennsylvania constituents live to freight rail tracks. The report concludes that forty-eight percent of his constituents (364,888 residents) in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District live within just one mile of freight rail lines, and ninety-five percent of constituents (723,926 residents) live within a five-mile radius of a freight rail line. Coming a year after the Norfolk Southern toxic train derailment in East Palestine that prompted an evacuation of residents living within two miles, this report highlights the reality that freight rail derailments pose an imminent safety issue for the vast majority of Congressman Deluzio’s constituents. 

“This report lays out what many Western Pennsylvanians already know: these freight rail tracks are in our backyards, and another derailment in our region could be absolutely devastating,” said Rep. Deluzio. “It’s my job to fight for the good people I represent and to work to make our communities safer. With 95% of my constituents living within five miles of a freight rail line, rail safety is an urgent safety issue for our region. And yet, one year after the derailment in East Palestine, House Republican Leadership has not taken any action on my bill, the Railway Safety Act. I will keep fighting for as long as it takes to get this bill passed into law and to make rail safer.” 

Congressman Deluzio’s Railway Safety Act was introduced in March of 2023 as a House companion bill to the Senate measure put forward by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), and John Fetterman (D-PA). The bill is a comprehensive measure to make rail safer, and is supported by the Biden Administration, former President Trump, several rail worker unions, and has both Democratic and Republican House co-sponsors, including members of the For Country Caucus, Problem Solvers Caucus, Republican Study Committee, Main Street Caucus, Republican Governance Group, Freedom Caucus, New Democrat Coalition, and Congressional Progressive Caucus. 

The Railway Safety Act would institute requirements for wayside defect detectors, increase fines for wrongdoing committed by rail carriers, enhance safety procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials, establish a permanent requirement for railroads to operate with at least two-person crews, create new requirements to prevent blocked railroad crossings, and more. President Joe Biden highlighted the importance of this bill as a part of his visit to Ohio and Pennsylvania last week. To mark one year since the derailment, Congressman Deluzio gave a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives and sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) calling on him to take action, reject the powerful rail industry lobby, and make rail safer. Despite the widespread, bipartisan support for Railway Safety Act, the House has not taken any action on the bill, and the Senate version has not yet come up for a vote. 

This report only analyzes freight rail lines and excludes light-rail passenger train lines in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District. While a passenger train derailment is also a safety concern, regional light rail trains such as the “T” do not pose a geographically large risk to residents as they do not transport hazardous materials such as the vinyl chloride that caused a toxic fireball in East Palestine last year. The full report is available for viewing and download here.  

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