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Blumenthal Statement on FRA Enforcement of Rail-Safety Rules

Statement

Date: Jan. 20, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Transportation Government Operations

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, today released the following statement after the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced that it collected $15 million in civil penalties from railroads for safety-rule violations in FY2015.

"Under the fresh leadership of Administrator Sarah Feinberg, FRA has taken a step in the right direction as it cracks down on safety violations -- progress from past years of anemic enforcement. But a 75-percent recovery rate is still woefully low, allowing violators to skate by, unconcerned with the ramifications of failure to pay fines in full. To ensure the safety of our rails, FRA must be pursuing more robust fines, while never resting until it recovers all of the penalties it levies. I will keep pushing FRA to make this new level of accountability a reality."


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