Senators Hawley and Baldwin Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Keep Workers Inspecting Train Tracks

Senators Hawley and Baldwin Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Keep Workers Inspecting Train Tracks

Thursday, March 05, 2026

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced the Secure Tracks Act, requiring railroads to use human workers for critically important track inspections, while also allowing railroads to slowly incorporate automated track inspection (ATI) technology. ATI technology would aid human inspectors by detecting track defects, but it fails to catch a variety of issues that can cause train derailments.

"Safety must be our top priority when it comes to our nation's railroads," Senator Hawley said. "Technology can help us monitor our railways but there is no substitute for in-person inspections conducted by railroad professionals. We can't cut corners, especially when it comes to keeping our trains on the tracks. Technology must serve workers-not the other way around."

"Wisconsin families and businesses depend on safe and reliable railroads to get them to work, to get their products to customers, and for things they buy at the store. Railroads run through their cities and towns, and they deserve to know that every track is up to snuff and safe," said Senator Baldwin. "I am all for using technology to keep our trains on the tracks and communities safe from derailments, but what we have learned is that technology can't do it all alone. It misses things that humans see and hear, and if we want to make sure our railroads are safe, we need both technology and real people who have the experience and knowledge."

"I want to commend Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) as well as Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV, 1st District) for coming together to introduce the bipartisan Secure Tracks Act. Rail safety is not a contentious partisan issue. Americans trust the railroads to be safe. The men and women of the BMWED take that public confidence sincerely. Let's pass the Secure Tracks Act into law so that every American can sleep soundly at night knowing that a professional human track inspector ensured that every inch of our country's railroad is safe," said Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) President Tony Cardwell.

Only 26 percent of all track-related defects can be detected by ATI while the other 74 percent can only be detected by a human. There's an average of three reportable train derailments per day, with larger, more high-profile ones, like in East Palestine, Ohio, causing loss of life, negatively impacting the environment and the economy. Thorough in-person inspections, supplemented by ATI technology, can better prevent train derailments and keep our communities safe.

The Secure Tracks Act would:

• Codify the requirement that major railroads be required to conduct at least 2 visual human track inspections per week.
• Codify the requirement that railroads must immediately remediate track defects when an inspection fails.
• Prohibit the Federal Railroad Administration from issuing waivers to major railroads that would allow the railroads to reduce human visual inspections in favor of an automated system that cannot detect the same scope of track defects.
• Introduce a requirement that major railroads must perform a small number of regular automated inspections every year, depending on railroad size.

The legislation is endorsed by Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED), Teamsters Rail Conference, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), National Conference of Fireman and Oilers (NCFO, SEIU), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Mechanical Division (SMART-MD), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD), and the Transportation Communications Union (TCU).

Senator Hawley has a history of supporting railroad workers. Last Congress, hecosponsored new legislation to improve the safety of the nation's rail system following the train derailment that devastated the community in East Palestine, Ohio. The Railway Safety Act of 2023 would improve rail safety protocols, establish new safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials, mitigate derailment risk with rules for train weight and size, increase fines for wrongdoing committed by rail carriers, and more. Senator Hawley also supported rail workers in their 2022 strike.

Read the bill text for the Secure Tracks Act here.

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