Rail Safety Act Mandates Hotbox Detectors Every 10 Miles, Requires 2-Person Crews on Freight Trains

The Railway Safety Act of 2025 is a comprehensive overhaul of how freight railroads operate, especially when hauling dangerous materials. The bill mandates stricter equipment standards, sets new operational rules, and dramatically increases the financial pain for railroads that cut corners. Crucially, it sets a hard deadline of May 1, 2027, for phasing out older, less safe DOT111 tank cars used for transporting flammable liquids, forcing a switch to modern, tougher DOT117 standard cars.

The End of Lone Engineers: Two People Required

One of the biggest shifts is the establishment of the “Safe Freight Act of 2025” (Sec. 6), which sets a national minimum crew size. For virtually all freight trains, the rule is simple: you must have at least two people—a certified engineer and a certified conductor—aboard. This is a game-changer for safety advocates who argue that a two-person crew is essential for managing the sheer complexity of modern freight operations, especially when responding to emergencies.

The bill does carve out a few exceptions, mostly for small railroads operating slowly on minor tracks, or for locomotives just moving short distances without cars. However, even if a train qualifies for an exception, it must have a two-person crew if it’s carrying highly toxic materials, or if it carries a significant volume of hazardous materials (like 20 or more loaded tank cars in a block, or 35 spread throughout the train). It also applies to any train longer than 7,500 feet. If you live near a long train carrying chemicals, you can be sure there are two sets of eyes watching the operation.

Mandatory Tech: Detectors Every 10 Miles

If you’ve ever had a delivery delayed because of a derailment, you know how important it is to catch equipment failure early. Section 5 addresses this by mandating new rules for wayside defect detectors—the sensors along the track that check for overheating wheels or other problems. Within one year, the Secretary must issue rules requiring all major (Class I) railroads to install hotbox detectors at least every 10 miles along any route used to transport hazardous materials.

This is a massive infrastructure requirement. For regular folks, this means fewer catastrophic failures caused by overheated bearings—the kind that often lead to spectacular, dangerous derailments. The rules will also set specific temperature thresholds that trigger an immediate alert and define the exact actions the railroad must take right away when a defect is spotted. The goal is to move from reactive cleanup to proactive prevention.

New Rules for Hazardous Cargo and Higher Fines

Beyond the headline items, the bill tightens the screws on hazardous material transport (Sec. 3). Railroads will now need to give advance notice and detailed written plans—including what to do if gas leaks—to every state and tribal emergency response team along the route. This is huge for local first responders, who often feel blindsided when a chemical train runs through their jurisdiction.

To ensure compliance, the bill radically increases maximum civil penalties for safety violations (Sec. 7). Instead of fixed dollar amounts, the new maximum fines are tied to the railroad’s income. For serious violations involving hazardous materials, the fine can now be the greater of $1.75 million or 1% of the railroad’s annual income. This moves the penalty from being an occasional cost of doing business to a potentially devastating financial hit, creating a much stronger incentive for the biggest carriers to prioritize safety.

Finally, the Act imposes a new $1 million annual fee on every Class I railroad (Sec. 9). This isn't a fine; it's a dedicated fee that goes directly toward funding grants for first responder training on hazardous materials. It’s a direct financial transaction: the biggest carriers pay to ensure the local communities they travel through are better prepared when things go wrong.