Railroads like the one involved in last month’s crash and toxic chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio, would be subject to new federal regulations and financial consequences under legislation introduced on Wednesday by the state’s two US senators.

The Railway Safety Act of 2023 is cosponsored by Sherrod Brown and JD Vance, a Democrat and Republican, and others of both parties.

The bill responds to the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train near the Pennsylvania border on 3 February, when 38 cars derailed and more burned.

Though no one was injured or killed, the accident imperiled neighborhoods in both states, prompting an evacuation of about half the 4,000 residents of East Palestine, a multi-agency emergency response and worries about health impacts.

The new bill aims to address questions including why the Ohio state government was not made aware the hazardous load was coming through and why the crew did not learn sooner of an impending malfunction.

“Through this legislation, Congress has a real opportunity to ensure that what happened in East Palestine will never happen again,” Vance said. “We owe every American the peace of mind that their community is protected from a catastrophe of this kind.”

Brown said it shouldn’t take a disaster for elected officials to work for their communities.

“Rail lobbyists have fought for years to protect their profits at the expense of communities like East Palestine and Steubenville and Sandusky,” he said. “These commonsense bipartisan safety measures will finally hold big railroad companies accountable, make our railroads and the towns along them safer, and prevent future tragedies, so no community has to suffer like East Palestine again.”

Under the bill, all trains carrying hazardous materials, including those that do not fall under existing regulations for high-hazard flammable loads, would face new requirements. Carriers would need to create emergency response plans and provide information and advance notification to emergency response commissions in each state a train passes through.

Hazardous materials shipments account for 7% to 8% of roughly 30m railroad shipments in the US each year. But almost any train, aside from grain or coal trains, might carry one or two cars of hazardous materials, because railroads often mix shipments.

The Association of American Railroads says 99.9% of hazardous materials reach their destinations safely, and railroads are generally regarded as the safest option to transport chemicals on land.

Railroad unions argue that operational changes and widespread job cuts have made railroads riskier. They say employees are spread thin and train crews deal with fatigue because they are on call 24/7.

The new bill would set train crews at a two-person minimum. The provision isn’t in response to East Palestine – where the train had three crew members – but to a trend toward one-person crews. The Federal Railroad Administration was already considering requiring two-person crews in most instances. That rule was proposed last summer but the agency is reviewing comments received.

Under the Senate bill, the US Department of Transportation would be required to revisit rules on train size and weight and to work to stop delays causing trains carrying hazardous loads to block rail crossings.

Train lengths have grown to two miles or more, as railroads streamline operations. Unions say longer trains are more prone to problems and can clog lines because they extend farther than sidings off main tracks.

Brown, Vance and their cosponsors – including the Pennsylvania Democrats Robert Casey and John Fetterman and the Republicans Marco Rubio, of Florida, and Josh Hawley, of Missouri – also would increase the maximum fine the US Department of Transportation can impose for safety violations. It would rise from $225,000 to up to 1% of a railroad’s annual operating income, which could be tens of millions of dollars.

The bill also requires railroads to pay for hazardous materials training for first responders.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the crew in East Palestine was alerted by a device detecting overheating bearings, but not soon enough to prevent the crash. Federal regulators have urged rail operators to re-examine practices regarding such detectors. The Senate proposal would make them more prevalent.

The bill would set requirements for installing, maintaining and placing the devices and mandate they scan trains carrying hazardous materials every 10 miles, twice as often as the East Palestine train was scanned. No federal requirements exist for wayside detectors, though they are widely used.

The Federal Railroad Administration would be required under the bill to update inspection regulations to ensure cars carrying hazardous materials receive regular checks. Railcar inspectors previously had about two minutes to inspect every car but now get about 30 to 45 seconds, unions say. Signalmen who maintain signals and warnings at crossings have bigger territories to cover.

Two Democrats, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania and Ro Khanna of California, have introduced a separate bill in response to East Palestine in the Republican-held House.