I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 769
To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Transpor-
tation to issue regulations under which Amtrak is responsible for refund-
ing rail passengers the cost of certain rail transportation that was can-
celed or delayed due to a failure of Amtrak, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mr. G
OTTHEIMER(for himself and Mr. KEAN) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Sec-
retary of Transportation to issue regulations under which
Amtrak is responsible for refunding rail passengers the
cost of certain rail transportation that was canceled or
delayed due to a failure of Amtrak, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘All Aboard Act’’. 4
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SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMTRAK FOR UNFULFILLED 1
FARES CAUSED BY MAINTENANCE AND 2
OTHER FAILURES. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 243 of title 49, United 4
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing new section: 6
‘‘§ 24324. Right of rail passengers to recover certain 7
unfulfilled fare 8
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 9
the date of enactment of the All Aboard Act, the Secretary 10
of Transportation shall issue regulations to ensure that 11
any person who purchases covered rail passenger transpor-12
tation receives a refund equal to the rate the person paid 13
for such transportation, at the expense of Amtrak and in 14
accordance with this section, if due to a failure of Amtrak, 15
such transportation, or a part of such transportation, is— 16
‘‘(1) canceled; or 17
‘‘(2) delayed such that the transportation is 18
completed more than 3 hours after the expected 19
completion time as of the time of the purchase. 20
‘‘(b) D
ETERMINATION OFCAUSE.— 21
‘‘(1) C
AUSATION.—For purposes of subsection 22
(a), a cancellation or delay is not a failure of Am-23
trak if the cancellation or delay is attributable to 24
forces or persons uncontrollable by Amtrak. 25
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‘‘(2) DISPUTE PROCEDURES .—In carrying out 1
subsection (a), the Secretary shall issue regulations 2
that include— 3
‘‘(A) procedures for determining if a can-4
cellation or delay is subject to subsection (a); 5
and 6
‘‘(B) procedures by which Amtrak can dis-7
pute that a cancellation or delay is subject to 8
subsection (a), including that the cancellation 9
or delay was due to a failure of Amtrak. 10
‘‘(c) R
EFUNDISSUANCE.— 11
‘‘(1) T
IMING.—A provider of covered rail pas-12
senger transportation shall issue a refund with re-13
spect to a cancellation or delay described in sub-14
section (a)— 15
‘‘(A) if Amtrak does not dispute that the 16
cancellation or delay is due to a failure of Am-17
trak— 18
‘‘(i) if the covered rail passenger 19
transportation is purchased with credit, a 20
voucher, or rewards points issued by the 21
provider of such transportation, not later 22
than 7 days after the cancellation or delay; 23
or 24
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‘‘(ii) if the covered rail passenger 1
transportation is purchased with cash, as 2
soon as is feasible after the cancellation or 3
delay; or 4
‘‘(B) if Amtrak disputes, pursuant to the 5
procedures established under subsection (b)(2), 6
that the cancellation or delay is subject to sub-7
section (a), not later than a date— 8
‘‘(i) which is after the date on which 9
a final determination is issued that the 10
cancellation or delay is subject to sub-11
section (a); and 12
‘‘(ii) determined by the Secretary to 13
be prompt and feasible. 14
‘‘(2) F
ORM.—A refund under subsection (a) 15
shall be issued to a purchaser of covered rail pas-16
senger transportation in the form of payment used 17
by the purchaser. 18
‘‘(d) A
MTRAKREIMBURSEMENT OF OTHERRAIL 19
C
ARRIERS.—Amtrak shall, upon request from a rail car-20
rier that issues a refund under subsection (a), reimburse 21
the rail carrier in the amount equal to the refund. 22
‘‘(e) N
ONCOMPLIANCE.—Amtrak may not receive 23
Federal funds for any period during which the Secretary 24
determines that Amtrak is noncompliant with this section. 25
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‘‘(f) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply for 1
any fiscal year in which Amtrak accepts Federal funds. 2
‘‘(g) C
OVEREDRAILPASSENGERTRANSPORTATION 3
D
EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘covered rail pas-4
senger transportation’ means— 5
‘‘(1) rail passenger transportation provided by, 6
or on behalf, of Amtrak; or 7
‘‘(2) commuter rail passenger transportation 8
that travels over rails owned by Amtrak, regardless 9
of if such transportation is provided by Amtrak or 10
another rail carrier.’’. 11
(b) R
EPLACEMENT OF AMTRAKASSETMAINTE-12
NANCESTRATEGY.— 13
(1) R
EPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 14
the date of enactment of this Act, Amtrak shall sub-15
mit to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-16
structure of the House of Representatives and the 17
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor-18
tation of the Senate a report including— 19
(A) an identification of each asset mainte-20
nance strategy that Amtrak could adopt as a 21
replacement for a run-to-fail maintenance 22
model; and 23
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(B) the estimated cost of implementing 1
each asset maintenance strategy identified pur-2
suant to subparagraph (A). 3
(2) B
AN ON RUN-TO-FAIL MODEL.—Amtrak 4
may not use a run-to-fail maintenance model after 5
the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment 6
of this Act. 7
(3) I
MPLEMENTATION OF NEW ASSET MAINTE -8
NANCE STRATEGY.—Not later than 2 years after the 9
date of enactment of this Act, Amtrak shall imple-10
ment an asset maintenance strategy identified in the 11
report under paragraph (1). 12
(c) R
UN-TO-FAILMAINTENANCE MODELDE-13
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘run-to-fail mainte-14
nance model’’ means an asset maintenance strategy under 15
which an asset (including equipment and infrastructure 16
used for passenger rail transportation) is retired from use 17
only at such time as— 18
(1) the asset is no longer capable of fulfilling an 19
intended use; or 20
(2) the age of the asset exceeds the manufac-21
turer-estimated lifespan of the asset. 22
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(d) CLERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 1
for chapter 243 of title 49, United States Code, is amend-2
ed by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘24324. Right of rail passengers to recover certain unfulfilled fare.’’.
Æ
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