Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB769 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 769
5	5	To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Transpor-
6	6	tation to issue regulations under which Amtrak is responsible for refund-
7	7	ing rail passengers the cost of certain rail transportation that was can-
8	8	celed or delayed due to a failure of Amtrak, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	JANUARY28, 2025
11	11	Mr. G
12	12	OTTHEIMER(for himself and Mr. KEAN) introduced the following bill;
13	13	which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Sec-
16	16	retary of Transportation to issue regulations under which
17	17	Amtrak is responsible for refunding rail passengers the
18	18	cost of certain rail transportation that was canceled or
19	19	delayed due to a failure of Amtrak, and for other pur-
20	20	poses.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘All Aboard Act’’. 4
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28	28	SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMTRAK FOR UNFULFILLED 1
29	29	FARES CAUSED BY MAINTENANCE AND 2
30	30	OTHER FAILURES. 3
31	31	(a) I
32	32	NGENERAL.—Chapter 243 of title 49, United 4
33	33	States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
34	34	lowing new section: 6
35	35	‘‘§ 24324. Right of rail passengers to recover certain 7
36	36	unfulfilled fare 8
37	37	‘‘(a) I
38	38	NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 9
39	39	the date of enactment of the All Aboard Act, the Secretary 10
40	40	of Transportation shall issue regulations to ensure that 11
41	41	any person who purchases covered rail passenger transpor-12
42	42	tation receives a refund equal to the rate the person paid 13
43	43	for such transportation, at the expense of Amtrak and in 14
44	44	accordance with this section, if due to a failure of Amtrak, 15
45	45	such transportation, or a part of such transportation, is— 16
46	46	‘‘(1) canceled; or 17
47	47	‘‘(2) delayed such that the transportation is 18
48	48	completed more than 3 hours after the expected 19
49	49	completion time as of the time of the purchase. 20
50	50	‘‘(b) D
51	51	ETERMINATION OFCAUSE.— 21
52	52	‘‘(1) C
53	53	AUSATION.—For purposes of subsection 22
54	54	(a), a cancellation or delay is not a failure of Am-23
55	55	trak if the cancellation or delay is attributable to 24
56	56	forces or persons uncontrollable by Amtrak. 25
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60	60	‘‘(2) DISPUTE PROCEDURES .—In carrying out 1
61	61	subsection (a), the Secretary shall issue regulations 2
62	62	that include— 3
63	63	‘‘(A) procedures for determining if a can-4
64	64	cellation or delay is subject to subsection (a); 5
65	65	and 6
66	66	‘‘(B) procedures by which Amtrak can dis-7
67	67	pute that a cancellation or delay is subject to 8
68	68	subsection (a), including that the cancellation 9
69	69	or delay was due to a failure of Amtrak. 10
70	70	‘‘(c) R
71	71	EFUNDISSUANCE.— 11
72	72	‘‘(1) T
73	73	IMING.—A provider of covered rail pas-12
74	74	senger transportation shall issue a refund with re-13
75	75	spect to a cancellation or delay described in sub-14
76	76	section (a)— 15
77	77	‘‘(A) if Amtrak does not dispute that the 16
78	78	cancellation or delay is due to a failure of Am-17
79	79	trak— 18
80	80	‘‘(i) if the covered rail passenger 19
81	81	transportation is purchased with credit, a 20
82	82	voucher, or rewards points issued by the 21
83	83	provider of such transportation, not later 22
84	84	than 7 days after the cancellation or delay; 23
85	85	or 24
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89	89	‘‘(ii) if the covered rail passenger 1
90	90	transportation is purchased with cash, as 2
91	91	soon as is feasible after the cancellation or 3
92	92	delay; or 4
93	93	‘‘(B) if Amtrak disputes, pursuant to the 5
94	94	procedures established under subsection (b)(2), 6
95	95	that the cancellation or delay is subject to sub-7
96	96	section (a), not later than a date— 8
97	97	‘‘(i) which is after the date on which 9
98	98	a final determination is issued that the 10
99	99	cancellation or delay is subject to sub-11
100	100	section (a); and 12
101	101	‘‘(ii) determined by the Secretary to 13
102	102	be prompt and feasible. 14
103	103	‘‘(2) F
104	104	ORM.—A refund under subsection (a) 15
105	105	shall be issued to a purchaser of covered rail pas-16
106	106	senger transportation in the form of payment used 17
107	107	by the purchaser. 18
108	108	‘‘(d) A
109	109	MTRAKREIMBURSEMENT OF OTHERRAIL 19
110	110	C
111	111	ARRIERS.—Amtrak shall, upon request from a rail car-20
112	112	rier that issues a refund under subsection (a), reimburse 21
113	113	the rail carrier in the amount equal to the refund. 22
114	114	‘‘(e) N
115	115	ONCOMPLIANCE.—Amtrak may not receive 23
116	116	Federal funds for any period during which the Secretary 24
117	117	determines that Amtrak is noncompliant with this section. 25
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121	121	‘‘(f) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply for 1
122	122	any fiscal year in which Amtrak accepts Federal funds. 2
123	123	‘‘(g) C
124	124	OVEREDRAILPASSENGERTRANSPORTATION 3
125	125	D
126	126	EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘covered rail pas-4
127	127	senger transportation’ means— 5
128	128	‘‘(1) rail passenger transportation provided by, 6
129	129	or on behalf, of Amtrak; or 7
130	130	‘‘(2) commuter rail passenger transportation 8
131	131	that travels over rails owned by Amtrak, regardless 9
132	132	of if such transportation is provided by Amtrak or 10
133	133	another rail carrier.’’. 11
134	134	(b) R
135	135	EPLACEMENT OF AMTRAKASSETMAINTE-12
136	136	NANCESTRATEGY.— 13
137	137	(1) R
138	138	EPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 14
139	139	the date of enactment of this Act, Amtrak shall sub-15
140	140	mit to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-16
141	141	structure of the House of Representatives and the 17
142	142	Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor-18
143	143	tation of the Senate a report including— 19
144	144	(A) an identification of each asset mainte-20
145	145	nance strategy that Amtrak could adopt as a 21
146	146	replacement for a run-to-fail maintenance 22
147	147	model; and 23
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151	151	(B) the estimated cost of implementing 1
152	152	each asset maintenance strategy identified pur-2
153	153	suant to subparagraph (A). 3
154	154	(2) B
155	155	AN ON RUN-TO-FAIL MODEL.—Amtrak 4
156	156	may not use a run-to-fail maintenance model after 5
157	157	the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment 6
158	158	of this Act. 7
159	159	(3) I
160	160	MPLEMENTATION OF NEW ASSET MAINTE -8
161	161	NANCE STRATEGY.—Not later than 2 years after the 9
162	162	date of enactment of this Act, Amtrak shall imple-10
163	163	ment an asset maintenance strategy identified in the 11
164	164	report under paragraph (1). 12
165	165	(c) R
166	166	UN-TO-FAILMAINTENANCE MODELDE-13
167	167	FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘run-to-fail mainte-14
168	168	nance model’’ means an asset maintenance strategy under 15
169	169	which an asset (including equipment and infrastructure 16
170	170	used for passenger rail transportation) is retired from use 17
171	171	only at such time as— 18
172	172	(1) the asset is no longer capable of fulfilling an 19
173	173	intended use; or 20
174	174	(2) the age of the asset exceeds the manufac-21
175	175	turer-estimated lifespan of the asset. 22
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179	179	(d) CLERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 1
180	180	for chapter 243 of title 49, United States Code, is amend-2
181	181	ed by adding at the end the following: 3
182	182	‘‘24324. Right of rail passengers to recover certain unfulfilled fare.’’.
183	183	Æ
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