Congress moves to gut railroad crew safety rules, favoring labor cuts over accident prevention
H.R. 5135 — Train Crew Choice Act · Filed by Eric Burlison (R-MO) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill voids a Federal Railroad Administration safety rule issued in April 2024 that set minimum crew sizes for trains. The rule required railroads to maintain staffing levels the FRA determined were necessary to prevent accidents. Nullifying it allows railroads to operate with smaller crews, reducing their labor costs but potentially increasing safety risks to workers and the public.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to eliminate a safety staffing mandate, allowing railroads to reduce crew sizes and operating costs. The title 'Train Crew Choice Act' frames this as choice/flexibility, but the mechanism is straightforward deregulation of a labor-safety rule.
What the text implies
- Crew fatigue and response time may increase, raising accident probability during emergencies (derailments, hazmat incidents, grade-crossing collisions).
- Smaller crews reduce on-train supervision and emergency response capacity, potentially increasing injury severity when accidents occur.
- The rule being voided was issued after FRA rulemaking; this bill bypasses normal regulatory review and does not require FRA to issue a replacement rule.
- Railroad labor unions and safety advocates will likely challenge the rule's removal; litigation costs and regulatory uncertainty may follow.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens and railroad workers face increased accident risk from reduced crew oversight and response capacity. While railroads benefit from lower labor costs, the public bears the safety externality — derailments, collisions, and hazmat incidents are more likely with smaller crews, and workers face higher injury risk.
Who stands to gain
- Class I railroads (BNSF, Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern)
- Regional and short-line railroads
- Railroad holding companies and investors
Named in the bill
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Department of Transportation, Class I railroads, Railroad labor unions, Federal Register
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Sep 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 4, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,703,827 in lobbying spend. A filing names 38 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Eric Burlison, the sponsor, reported $292,530 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Bnsf Railway Company — $960,000 on 1 filing
- Int'l Ass'n of Sheet Metal Air Rail & Transp Workers Transp Div — $743,827 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (334 characters) on Aug 15, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress moves to gut railroad crew safety rules, favoring labor cuts over accident prevention” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr5135 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.