I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2515
To provide for a grant program for adoption of certain telematics systems
onboard freight railcars, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH31, 2025
Mr. N
EHLS(for himself and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-
nology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide for a grant program for adoption of certain
telematics systems onboard freight railcars, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Tank Car 4
Modernization Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAMS FOR ADOPTION OF CERTAIN 1
TELEMATICS SYSTEMS. 2
(a) O
NBOARDFREIGHTRAILCARTELEMATICSSYS-3
TEMS ANDGATEWAYDEVICEGRANTPROGRAM.—The 4
Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration 5
shall establish a grant program to provide funds to freight 6
railcar owners or operators to purchase and install— 7
(1) onboard freight railcar telematics systems; 8
or 9
(2) onboard freight railcar gateway devices. 10
(b) E
LIGIBLEENTITIES.—Eligible entities for fund-11
ing under the grant program under this section are freight 12
railcar owners. 13
(c) U
SE OFFUNDS.—Funds provided under this sec-14
tion may be used to purchase and install onboard freight 15
railcar telematic systems or onboard freight railcar gate-16
way devices that enable the recipient of a grant to obtain 17
and enhance the data collected from such systems and de-18
vices resulting in the following: 19
(1) Near real-time visibility of freight railcar lo-20
cation and freight railcar asset health. 21
(2) Increasing the visibility to the safety of the 22
asset and commodity within the freight railcar asset. 23
(3) Increasing future capability of real-time vis-24
ibility in the development of onboard freight railcar 25
sensor technology that measures or monitors, for 26
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purposes of gathering information on maintenance 1
requirements (and enables railcar owners, operators, 2
and shippers to identify railcars that could become 3
a hazard)— 4
(A) railcar impact; 5
(B) wheel or wheel bearing temperature; 6
(C) whether a hand brake is on or off; 7
(D) whether a hatch is open or closed; and 8
(E) internal railcar temperature. 9
(4) Increasing the efficiency of railcar utiliza-10
tion in the North American freight railcar fleet. 11
(5) Reducing reliance on human and manual 12
data capture, reducing the risk of errors due to data 13
latency and timeliness related to freight railcar data 14
and information. 15
(6) Offering development of alerts and triggers 16
to capture and transmit freight railcar mechanical 17
issues to the railroad operator for action. 18
(7) Ability to communicate events real-time to 19
a wide variety of stakeholders. 20
(d) G
RANTUSEPRIORITIZATION.—In selecting re-21
cipients of grants under this section, the Administrator 22
shall prioritize installation of onboard freight railcar 23
telematic systems or onboard freight railcar gateway de-24
vices in the following order of priority: 25
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(1) Newly built freight railcars manufactured 1
by a qualified manufacturer in a qualified facility. 2
(2) Freight railcars entering a certification 3
event in a qualified facility. 4
(3) Freight railcars entering a shopping event 5
or maintenance event in a qualified facility. 6
(e) F
REIGHTRAILCARTYPEPRIORITIZATION.— 7
After establishing the priority requirements under sub-8
section (c), the Administrator shall further ensure that the 9
freight railcar types eligible to receive such an installation 10
be considered in the following order of priority: 11
(1) Tank cars in ‘‘TIH/PIH’’ (toxic inhalation 12
products) service. 13
(2) Tank cars in Class I, II, and III flammable 14
service. 15
(3) Tank cars in hazardous materials service. 16
(4) Tank cars in specialized service. 17
(5) Other tank cars. 18
(6) All other freight railcars. 19
(f) L
IMITATION.—To be eligible for any expenditure 20
of funds under this section, a freight railcar and any sen-21
sitive technology relating to such railcar shall comply with 22
the requirements of section 20171 of title 49, United 23
States Code. 24
(g) R
EPORT BYSECRETARY OFTRANSPORTATION.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 1
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 2
Transportation shall submit to the Committee on 3
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen-4
ate and the Committee on Transportation and Infra-5
structure of the House of Representatives a report 6
on the implementation and effects of the grant pro-7
gram established under this section. 8
(2) C
ONTENTS.—The report required under 9
paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum, the fol-10
lowing: 11
(A) The number of railcars equipped with 12
telematics devices using funds provided under 13
this section. 14
(B) The cost of equipping such railcars. 15
(C) The number of safety incidents involv-16
ing such railcars reported to the Federal Rail-17
road Administration. 18
(D) Anecdotal experience of grant recipi-19
ents relating to the deployment of telematics 20
devices. 21
(E) Any legislative recommendations relat-22
ing to the grant program established under 23
paragraph (1). 24
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(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report re-1
quired under paragraph (1) shall be made publicly 2
available to the maximum extent practicable without 3
compromising confidentiality or security. 4
(4) C
ONSULTATION.—In preparing the report 5
required under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 6
consult with Federal agencies and stakeholders, as 7
appropriate, to gather technical, operational, and 8
safety-related data. 9
(h) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-10
nitions apply: 11
(1) O
NBOARD FREIGHT RAILCAR TELEMATICS 12
SYSTEM; ONBOARD FREIGHT RAILCAR GATEWAY DE -13
VICE.—The terms ‘‘onboard freight railcar 14
telematics system’’ and ‘‘onboard freight railcar 15
gateway device’’ mean the telematics or gateway de-16
vice physically installed on a freight railcar that is 17
owned by a railcar owner that collects and transmits 18
data about the railcar asset. 19
(2) T
ELEMATICS.—The term ‘‘telematics’’ 20
means a technology that— 21
(A) relies on telecommunications, 22
informatics, and computer and data processing; 23
(B) generates data and informatics from 24
gateway devices fixed to railcars and provides 25
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for the exchange of information over a distance 1
using battery or solar powered wireless connec-2
tions; and 3
(C) includes the method upon which 4
freight railcars are monitored by using GPS 5
technology through a gateway device using on- 6
board diagnostics to plot a railcar’s movements 7
and, if applicable, gather railcar equipment 8
health and condition data from other onboard 9
railcar sensors when applied. 10
(3) G
ATEWAY DEVICE.—The term ‘‘gateway de-11
vice’’ means a network hardware or software node 12
used in freight railcar telecommunications that— 13
(A) connects two networks with different 14
transmission protocols together; 15
(B) serves as an entry and exit point for 16
a network as all data collected from the railcar 17
must pass through or communicate with the 18
gateway prior to being routed; 19
(C) are distinct from routers or switches in 20
that they communicate using more than one 21
protocol to connect multiple networks; and 22
(D) may be any device on a freight railcar 23
that is embedded with electronics, software, 24
sensors, or other connectivity, that enables the 25
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device to connect to, collect data from, or ex-1
change data with another device, including— 2
(i) railcar onboard telematics; 3
(ii) global positioning system satellite 4
and cellular location tracking systems; 5
(iii) railcar event status sensors; 6
(iv) railcar predictive component con-7
dition and performance monitoring sen-8
sors; and 9
(v) similar technologies embedded into 10
freight railcar components and sub-assem-11
blies. 12
(4) R
AILROAD FREIGHT CAR .—The term ‘‘rail-13
road freight car’’ means a car designed to carry 14
freight or railroad personnel by rail, including— 15
(A) a box railcar; 16
(B) a refrigerator railcar; 17
(C) a ventilator railcar; 18
(D) an intermodal well railcar; 19
(E) a gondola railcar; 20
(F) a hopper railcar; 21
(G) an auto rack railcar; 22
(H) a flat railcar; 23
(I) a special railcar; 24
(J) a caboose railcar; 25
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(K) a tank railcar; and 1
(L) a yard railcar. 2
(5) Q
UALIFIED FACILITY.—The term ‘‘qualified 3
facility’’ means a facility that is not owned or under 4
the control of a state-owned enterprise. 5
(6) Q
UALIFIED MANUFACTURER .—The term 6
‘‘qualified manufacturer’’ means a railroad freight 7
car manufacturer that is not owned or under the 8
control of a state-owned enterprise. 9
(7) C
ERTIFICATION EVENT.—The term ‘‘certifi-10
cation event’’ means a railroad freight car that is re-11
quired by current regulations to be recertified in a 12
maintenance facility or qualified facility. 13
(8) S
HOPPING EVENT.—The term ‘‘shopping 14
event’’ means a railroad freight car that is under-15
going regular or routine maintenance by a railcar 16
maintenance facility or qualified facility. 17
(9) S
TATE-OWNED ENTERPRISE .—The term 18
‘‘state-owned enterprise’’ means— 19
(A) an entity that is owned by, or under 20
the control of, a national, provincial, or local 21
government of a country of concern, or an 22
agency of such government; or 23
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(B) an individual acting under the direc-1
tion or influence of a government or agency de-2
scribed in subparagraph (A). 3
(10) C
OUNTRY OF CONCERN .—The term ‘‘coun-4
try of concern’’ means a country that— 5
(A) is identified by the Department of 6
Commerce as a nonmarket economy country (as 7
defined in section 771(18) of the Tariff Act of 8
1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(18))) as of the date of 9
enactment of the Passenger Rail Expansion and 10
Rail Safety Act of 2021; 11
(B) was identified by the United States 12
Trade Representative in the most recent report 13
required by section 182 of the Trade Act of 14
1974 (19 U.S.C. 2242) as a foreign country in-15
cluded on the priority watch list (as defined in 16
subsection (g)(3) of such section); and 17
(C) is subject to monitoring by the Trade 18
Representative under section 306 of the Trade 19
Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2416). 20
(i) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 21
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 22
$100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029, 23
to remain available until expended. 24
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SEC. 3. ENHANCING FREIGHT RAILCAR ONBOARD 1
TELEMATICS AND SENSOR DEVELOPMENT 2
PILOT PROGRAM. 3
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 4
Federal Railroad Administration shall establish a pilot 5
program to— 6
(1) assist freight railcar owners and freight 7
railcar manufacturers in the development of freight 8
railcar onboard sensor technologies to add visibility 9
to the safety of the freight railcar asset and com-10
modity within the freight railcar asset; 11
(2) encourage development of freight railcar on-12
board sensors that communicate to the freight rail-13
car onboard gateway devices to offer future capabili-14
ties of real-time visibility of— 15
(A) wheel and wheel bearing temperature; 16
(B) whether a hand brake is on or off; 17
(C) whether a hatch is open or closed; and 18
(D) internal railcar temperature; and 19
(3) carry out any of the activities described in 20
paragraph (1) and (2) for purposes of informing 21
railcar owners or operators on maintenance require-22
ments, and enable operators, shippers, and railcar 23
owners to possibly identify railcars that could be-24
come a hazard. 25
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(b) ELIGIBLEENTITIES.—Eligible entities for fund-1
ing under the pilot program under this section are freight 2
railcar owners. 3
(c) L
IMITATION.—To be eligible for any expenditure 4
of funds under this section, a freight railcar and any sen-5
sitive technology relating to such railcar shall comply with 6
the requirements of section 20171 of title 49, United 7
States Code. 8
(d) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 9
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 10
shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 11
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 12
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Rep-13
resentatives a report on— 14
(1) the activities carried out with funds pro-15
vided under this section; and 16
(2) the effectiveness of developed freight railcar 17
onboard sensors by outlining the types and numbers 18
of sensors that have become industry accepted and 19
are in use on freight railcars. 20
(e) D
EFINITIONS.— 21
(1) F
REIGHT RAILCAR ONBOARD SENSOR .—The 22
term ‘‘freight railcar onboard sensor’’ means the on-23
board sensor that communicates or signals the 24
freight railcar onboard telematics device or gateway 25
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device physically installed on a freight railcar that is 1
purchased and installed by, and owned by the railcar 2
owner that collects and transmits data about the 3
railcar asset to the railcar owner, data system, or 4
data collection point. 5
(2) R
AILROAD FREIGHT CAR .—The term ‘‘rail-6
road freight car’’ means a car designed to carry 7
freight or railroad personnel by rail, including— 8
(A) a box railcar; 9
(B) a refrigerator railcar; 10
(C) a ventilator railcar; 11
(D) an intermodal well railcar; 12
(E) a gondola railcar; 13
(F) a hopper railcar; 14
(G) an auto rack railcar; 15
(H) a flat railcar; 16
(I) a special railcar; 17
(J) a caboose railcar; 18
(K) a tank railcar; and 19
(L) a yard railcar. 20
(3) T
ELEMATICS.—The term ‘‘telematics’’ 21
means a technology that— 22
(A) relies on telecommunications, 23
informatics, and computer and data processing; 24
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(B) generates data and informatics from 1
gateway devices fixed to railcars and provide for 2
the exchange of information over a distance 3
using battery or solar powered wireless connec-4
tions; and 5
(C) includes the method upon which 6
freight railcars are monitored by using GPS 7
technology through a gateway device using on- 8
board diagnostics to plot a railcar’s movements 9
and, if applicable, gather railcar equipment 10
health and condition data from other onboard 11
railcar sensors when applied. 12
(4) G
ATEWAY DEVICE.—The term ‘‘gateway de-13
vice’’ means a network hardware or software node 14
used in freight railcar telecommunications that— 15
(A) connects two networks with different 16
transmission protocols together; 17
(B) serve as an entry and exit point for a 18
network as all data collected from the railcar 19
must pass through or communicate with the 20
gateway prior to being routed; 21
(C) are distinct from routers or switches in 22
that they communicate using more than one 23
protocol to connect multiple networks; and 24
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(D) may be any device on a freight railcar 1
that is embedded with electronics, software, 2
sensors, or other connectivity, that enables the 3
device to connect to, collect data from, or ex-4
change data with another device, including— 5
(i) railcar onboard telematics; 6
(ii) global positioning system satellite 7
and cellular location tracking systems; 8
(iii) railcar event status sensors; 9
(iv) railcar predictive component con-10
dition and performance monitoring sen-11
sors; and 12
(v) similar sensitive technologies em-13
bedded into freight railcar components and 14
sub-assemblies. 15
(f) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 16
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 17
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029, 18
to remain available until expended. 19
Æ
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