Senator Blunt's TRAIN Act Moving Forward, Included In Committee-Passed Bill

Press Release

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt's (Mo.) Track, Railroad, and Infrastructure Network (TRAIN) Act this week passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation as a part of U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (Miss.) and Cory Booker's (N.J.) Railroad Reform, Enhancement, and Efficiency Act. The bipartisan measure would reform the environmental permitting process for rail projects in order to facilitate a more efficient way to approve rail infrastructure. The bipartisan legislation, which has been endorsed by the Missouri Railroad Association, would promote additional investment in rail systems without compromising environmental quality.

"Freight rail is integral to our economy and continues to grow. This bipartisan measure will help increase investment and streamline permitting while ensuring burdensome federal regulations do not hamper innovation in our nation's freight and passenger rail industry," Blunt said.

In March 2015, Blunt originally introduced the legislation as a stand-alone bill.

In 2012, Congress identified duplicative and burdensome permitting requirements for other modes of transportation, and responded by enacting permitting reform legislation as a part of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act. The TRAIN Act would expand these reforms to railroad infrastructure.

The rail industry has encountered significant challenges in the federal environmental permitting process that have resulted in burdensome administrative delays unrelated to environmental concerns. The unnecessary delays result in cost increases that reduce the amount of capital railroads have available to invest in projects.

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