Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2515 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2515
55 To provide for a grant program for adoption of certain telematics systems
66 onboard freight railcars, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 MARCH31, 2025
99 Mr. N
1010 EHLS(for himself and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill;
1111 which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
1212 ture, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-
1313 nology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
1414 each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
1515 tion of the committee concerned
1616 A BILL
1717 To provide for a grant program for adoption of certain
1818 telematics systems onboard freight railcars, and for other
1919 purposes.
2020 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2121 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2222 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2323 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Tank Car 4
2424 Modernization Act of 2025’’. 5
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2828 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAMS FOR ADOPTION OF CERTAIN 1
2929 TELEMATICS SYSTEMS. 2
3030 (a) O
3131 NBOARDFREIGHTRAILCARTELEMATICSSYS-3
3232 TEMS ANDGATEWAYDEVICEGRANTPROGRAM.—The 4
3333 Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration 5
3434 shall establish a grant program to provide funds to freight 6
3535 railcar owners or operators to purchase and install— 7
3636 (1) onboard freight railcar telematics systems; 8
3737 or 9
3838 (2) onboard freight railcar gateway devices. 10
3939 (b) E
4040 LIGIBLEENTITIES.—Eligible entities for fund-11
4141 ing under the grant program under this section are freight 12
4242 railcar owners. 13
4343 (c) U
4444 SE OFFUNDS.—Funds provided under this sec-14
4545 tion may be used to purchase and install onboard freight 15
4646 railcar telematic systems or onboard freight railcar gate-16
4747 way devices that enable the recipient of a grant to obtain 17
4848 and enhance the data collected from such systems and de-18
4949 vices resulting in the following: 19
5050 (1) Near real-time visibility of freight railcar lo-20
5151 cation and freight railcar asset health. 21
5252 (2) Increasing the visibility to the safety of the 22
5353 asset and commodity within the freight railcar asset. 23
5454 (3) Increasing future capability of real-time vis-24
5555 ibility in the development of onboard freight railcar 25
5656 sensor technology that measures or monitors, for 26
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6060 purposes of gathering information on maintenance 1
6161 requirements (and enables railcar owners, operators, 2
6262 and shippers to identify railcars that could become 3
6363 a hazard)— 4
6464 (A) railcar impact; 5
6565 (B) wheel or wheel bearing temperature; 6
6666 (C) whether a hand brake is on or off; 7
6767 (D) whether a hatch is open or closed; and 8
6868 (E) internal railcar temperature. 9
6969 (4) Increasing the efficiency of railcar utiliza-10
7070 tion in the North American freight railcar fleet. 11
7171 (5) Reducing reliance on human and manual 12
7272 data capture, reducing the risk of errors due to data 13
7373 latency and timeliness related to freight railcar data 14
7474 and information. 15
7575 (6) Offering development of alerts and triggers 16
7676 to capture and transmit freight railcar mechanical 17
7777 issues to the railroad operator for action. 18
7878 (7) Ability to communicate events real-time to 19
7979 a wide variety of stakeholders. 20
8080 (d) G
8181 RANTUSEPRIORITIZATION.—In selecting re-21
8282 cipients of grants under this section, the Administrator 22
8383 shall prioritize installation of onboard freight railcar 23
8484 telematic systems or onboard freight railcar gateway de-24
8585 vices in the following order of priority: 25
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8989 (1) Newly built freight railcars manufactured 1
9090 by a qualified manufacturer in a qualified facility. 2
9191 (2) Freight railcars entering a certification 3
9292 event in a qualified facility. 4
9393 (3) Freight railcars entering a shopping event 5
9494 or maintenance event in a qualified facility. 6
9595 (e) F
9696 REIGHTRAILCARTYPEPRIORITIZATION.— 7
9797 After establishing the priority requirements under sub-8
9898 section (c), the Administrator shall further ensure that the 9
9999 freight railcar types eligible to receive such an installation 10
100100 be considered in the following order of priority: 11
101101 (1) Tank cars in ‘‘TIH/PIH’’ (toxic inhalation 12
102102 products) service. 13
103103 (2) Tank cars in Class I, II, and III flammable 14
104104 service. 15
105105 (3) Tank cars in hazardous materials service. 16
106106 (4) Tank cars in specialized service. 17
107107 (5) Other tank cars. 18
108108 (6) All other freight railcars. 19
109109 (f) L
110110 IMITATION.—To be eligible for any expenditure 20
111111 of funds under this section, a freight railcar and any sen-21
112112 sitive technology relating to such railcar shall comply with 22
113113 the requirements of section 20171 of title 49, United 23
114114 States Code. 24
115115 (g) R
116116 EPORT BYSECRETARY OFTRANSPORTATION.— 25
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120120 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 1
121121 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 2
122122 Transportation shall submit to the Committee on 3
123123 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen-4
124124 ate and the Committee on Transportation and Infra-5
125125 structure of the House of Representatives a report 6
126126 on the implementation and effects of the grant pro-7
127127 gram established under this section. 8
128128 (2) C
129129 ONTENTS.—The report required under 9
130130 paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum, the fol-10
131131 lowing: 11
132132 (A) The number of railcars equipped with 12
133133 telematics devices using funds provided under 13
134134 this section. 14
135135 (B) The cost of equipping such railcars. 15
136136 (C) The number of safety incidents involv-16
137137 ing such railcars reported to the Federal Rail-17
138138 road Administration. 18
139139 (D) Anecdotal experience of grant recipi-19
140140 ents relating to the deployment of telematics 20
141141 devices. 21
142142 (E) Any legislative recommendations relat-22
143143 ing to the grant program established under 23
144144 paragraph (1). 24
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148148 (3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report re-1
149149 quired under paragraph (1) shall be made publicly 2
150150 available to the maximum extent practicable without 3
151151 compromising confidentiality or security. 4
152152 (4) C
153153 ONSULTATION.—In preparing the report 5
154154 required under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 6
155155 consult with Federal agencies and stakeholders, as 7
156156 appropriate, to gather technical, operational, and 8
157157 safety-related data. 9
158158 (h) D
159159 EFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-10
160160 nitions apply: 11
161161 (1) O
162162 NBOARD FREIGHT RAILCAR TELEMATICS 12
163163 SYSTEM; ONBOARD FREIGHT RAILCAR GATEWAY DE -13
164164 VICE.—The terms ‘‘onboard freight railcar 14
165165 telematics system’’ and ‘‘onboard freight railcar 15
166166 gateway device’’ mean the telematics or gateway de-16
167167 vice physically installed on a freight railcar that is 17
168168 owned by a railcar owner that collects and transmits 18
169169 data about the railcar asset. 19
170170 (2) T
171171 ELEMATICS.—The term ‘‘telematics’’ 20
172172 means a technology that— 21
173173 (A) relies on telecommunications, 22
174174 informatics, and computer and data processing; 23
175175 (B) generates data and informatics from 24
176176 gateway devices fixed to railcars and provides 25
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180180 for the exchange of information over a distance 1
181181 using battery or solar powered wireless connec-2
182182 tions; and 3
183183 (C) includes the method upon which 4
184184 freight railcars are monitored by using GPS 5
185185 technology through a gateway device using on- 6
186186 board diagnostics to plot a railcar’s movements 7
187187 and, if applicable, gather railcar equipment 8
188188 health and condition data from other onboard 9
189189 railcar sensors when applied. 10
190190 (3) G
191191 ATEWAY DEVICE.—The term ‘‘gateway de-11
192192 vice’’ means a network hardware or software node 12
193193 used in freight railcar telecommunications that— 13
194194 (A) connects two networks with different 14
195195 transmission protocols together; 15
196196 (B) serves as an entry and exit point for 16
197197 a network as all data collected from the railcar 17
198198 must pass through or communicate with the 18
199199 gateway prior to being routed; 19
200200 (C) are distinct from routers or switches in 20
201201 that they communicate using more than one 21
202202 protocol to connect multiple networks; and 22
203203 (D) may be any device on a freight railcar 23
204204 that is embedded with electronics, software, 24
205205 sensors, or other connectivity, that enables the 25
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209209 device to connect to, collect data from, or ex-1
210210 change data with another device, including— 2
211211 (i) railcar onboard telematics; 3
212212 (ii) global positioning system satellite 4
213213 and cellular location tracking systems; 5
214214 (iii) railcar event status sensors; 6
215215 (iv) railcar predictive component con-7
216216 dition and performance monitoring sen-8
217217 sors; and 9
218218 (v) similar technologies embedded into 10
219219 freight railcar components and sub-assem-11
220220 blies. 12
221221 (4) R
222222 AILROAD FREIGHT CAR .—The term ‘‘rail-13
223223 road freight car’’ means a car designed to carry 14
224224 freight or railroad personnel by rail, including— 15
225225 (A) a box railcar; 16
226226 (B) a refrigerator railcar; 17
227227 (C) a ventilator railcar; 18
228228 (D) an intermodal well railcar; 19
229229 (E) a gondola railcar; 20
230230 (F) a hopper railcar; 21
231231 (G) an auto rack railcar; 22
232232 (H) a flat railcar; 23
233233 (I) a special railcar; 24
234234 (J) a caboose railcar; 25
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238238 (K) a tank railcar; and 1
239239 (L) a yard railcar. 2
240240 (5) Q
241241 UALIFIED FACILITY.—The term ‘‘qualified 3
242242 facility’’ means a facility that is not owned or under 4
243243 the control of a state-owned enterprise. 5
244244 (6) Q
245245 UALIFIED MANUFACTURER .—The term 6
246246 ‘‘qualified manufacturer’’ means a railroad freight 7
247247 car manufacturer that is not owned or under the 8
248248 control of a state-owned enterprise. 9
249249 (7) C
250250 ERTIFICATION EVENT.—The term ‘‘certifi-10
251251 cation event’’ means a railroad freight car that is re-11
252252 quired by current regulations to be recertified in a 12
253253 maintenance facility or qualified facility. 13
254254 (8) S
255255 HOPPING EVENT.—The term ‘‘shopping 14
256256 event’’ means a railroad freight car that is under-15
257257 going regular or routine maintenance by a railcar 16
258258 maintenance facility or qualified facility. 17
259259 (9) S
260260 TATE-OWNED ENTERPRISE .—The term 18
261261 ‘‘state-owned enterprise’’ means— 19
262262 (A) an entity that is owned by, or under 20
263263 the control of, a national, provincial, or local 21
264264 government of a country of concern, or an 22
265265 agency of such government; or 23
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269269 (B) an individual acting under the direc-1
270270 tion or influence of a government or agency de-2
271271 scribed in subparagraph (A). 3
272272 (10) C
273273 OUNTRY OF CONCERN .—The term ‘‘coun-4
274274 try of concern’’ means a country that— 5
275275 (A) is identified by the Department of 6
276276 Commerce as a nonmarket economy country (as 7
277277 defined in section 771(18) of the Tariff Act of 8
278278 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(18))) as of the date of 9
279279 enactment of the Passenger Rail Expansion and 10
280280 Rail Safety Act of 2021; 11
281281 (B) was identified by the United States 12
282282 Trade Representative in the most recent report 13
283283 required by section 182 of the Trade Act of 14
284284 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2242) as a foreign country in-15
285285 cluded on the priority watch list (as defined in 16
286286 subsection (g)(3) of such section); and 17
287287 (C) is subject to monitoring by the Trade 18
288288 Representative under section 306 of the Trade 19
289289 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2416). 20
290290 (i) A
291291 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 21
292292 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 22
293293 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029, 23
294294 to remain available until expended. 24
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298298 SEC. 3. ENHANCING FREIGHT RAILCAR ONBOARD 1
299299 TELEMATICS AND SENSOR DEVELOPMENT 2
300300 PILOT PROGRAM. 3
301301 (a) E
302302 STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 4
303303 Federal Railroad Administration shall establish a pilot 5
304304 program to— 6
305305 (1) assist freight railcar owners and freight 7
306306 railcar manufacturers in the development of freight 8
307307 railcar onboard sensor technologies to add visibility 9
308308 to the safety of the freight railcar asset and com-10
309309 modity within the freight railcar asset; 11
310310 (2) encourage development of freight railcar on-12
311311 board sensors that communicate to the freight rail-13
312312 car onboard gateway devices to offer future capabili-14
313313 ties of real-time visibility of— 15
314314 (A) wheel and wheel bearing temperature; 16
315315 (B) whether a hand brake is on or off; 17
316316 (C) whether a hatch is open or closed; and 18
317317 (D) internal railcar temperature; and 19
318318 (3) carry out any of the activities described in 20
319319 paragraph (1) and (2) for purposes of informing 21
320320 railcar owners or operators on maintenance require-22
321321 ments, and enable operators, shippers, and railcar 23
322322 owners to possibly identify railcars that could be-24
323323 come a hazard. 25
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327327 (b) ELIGIBLEENTITIES.—Eligible entities for fund-1
328328 ing under the pilot program under this section are freight 2
329329 railcar owners. 3
330330 (c) L
331331 IMITATION.—To be eligible for any expenditure 4
332332 of funds under this section, a freight railcar and any sen-5
333333 sitive technology relating to such railcar shall comply with 6
334334 the requirements of section 20171 of title 49, United 7
335335 States Code. 8
336336 (d) R
337337 EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 9
338338 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 10
339339 shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 11
340340 Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 12
341341 Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Rep-13
342342 resentatives a report on— 14
343343 (1) the activities carried out with funds pro-15
344344 vided under this section; and 16
345345 (2) the effectiveness of developed freight railcar 17
346346 onboard sensors by outlining the types and numbers 18
347347 of sensors that have become industry accepted and 19
348348 are in use on freight railcars. 20
349349 (e) D
350350 EFINITIONS.— 21
351351 (1) F
352352 REIGHT RAILCAR ONBOARD SENSOR .—The 22
353353 term ‘‘freight railcar onboard sensor’’ means the on-23
354354 board sensor that communicates or signals the 24
355355 freight railcar onboard telematics device or gateway 25
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359359 device physically installed on a freight railcar that is 1
360360 purchased and installed by, and owned by the railcar 2
361361 owner that collects and transmits data about the 3
362362 railcar asset to the railcar owner, data system, or 4
363363 data collection point. 5
364364 (2) R
365365 AILROAD FREIGHT CAR .—The term ‘‘rail-6
366366 road freight car’’ means a car designed to carry 7
367367 freight or railroad personnel by rail, including— 8
368368 (A) a box railcar; 9
369369 (B) a refrigerator railcar; 10
370370 (C) a ventilator railcar; 11
371371 (D) an intermodal well railcar; 12
372372 (E) a gondola railcar; 13
373373 (F) a hopper railcar; 14
374374 (G) an auto rack railcar; 15
375375 (H) a flat railcar; 16
376376 (I) a special railcar; 17
377377 (J) a caboose railcar; 18
378378 (K) a tank railcar; and 19
379379 (L) a yard railcar. 20
380380 (3) T
381381 ELEMATICS.—The term ‘‘telematics’’ 21
382382 means a technology that— 22
383383 (A) relies on telecommunications, 23
384384 informatics, and computer and data processing; 24
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388388 (B) generates data and informatics from 1
389389 gateway devices fixed to railcars and provide for 2
390390 the exchange of information over a distance 3
391391 using battery or solar powered wireless connec-4
392392 tions; and 5
393393 (C) includes the method upon which 6
394394 freight railcars are monitored by using GPS 7
395395 technology through a gateway device using on- 8
396396 board diagnostics to plot a railcar’s movements 9
397397 and, if applicable, gather railcar equipment 10
398398 health and condition data from other onboard 11
399399 railcar sensors when applied. 12
400400 (4) G
401401 ATEWAY DEVICE.—The term ‘‘gateway de-13
402402 vice’’ means a network hardware or software node 14
403403 used in freight railcar telecommunications that— 15
404404 (A) connects two networks with different 16
405405 transmission protocols together; 17
406406 (B) serve as an entry and exit point for a 18
407407 network as all data collected from the railcar 19
408408 must pass through or communicate with the 20
409409 gateway prior to being routed; 21
410410 (C) are distinct from routers or switches in 22
411411 that they communicate using more than one 23
412412 protocol to connect multiple networks; and 24
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416416 (D) may be any device on a freight railcar 1
417417 that is embedded with electronics, software, 2
418418 sensors, or other connectivity, that enables the 3
419419 device to connect to, collect data from, or ex-4
420420 change data with another device, including— 5
421421 (i) railcar onboard telematics; 6
422422 (ii) global positioning system satellite 7
423423 and cellular location tracking systems; 8
424424 (iii) railcar event status sensors; 9
425425 (iv) railcar predictive component con-10
426426 dition and performance monitoring sen-11
427427 sors; and 12
428428 (v) similar sensitive technologies em-13
429429 bedded into freight railcar components and 14
430430 sub-assemblies. 15
431431 (f) A
432432 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 16
433433 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 17
434434 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029, 18
435435 to remain available until expended. 19
436436 Æ
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