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On Wednesday, May 17, at 5:15 p.m. ET U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will hold a press conference with Mayors and local officials from small municipalities through which Class I railroads travel on the need for the Senate to pass the bipartisan Railway Safety Act. The local officials were brought together by the National League of Cities.    

The Senate Commerce Committee passed the bipartisan Railway Safety Act last week. The legislation must now pass the full Senate. A summary of its key provisions can be found here.

In March, the National League of Cities and more than 500 local officials sent a letter to Members of Congress following the East Palestine derailment expressing the need for Congress to act on railway safety writing: “With 140,000 miles of track in the U.S. crossing directly through thousands of cities, towns and villages, the severity of this derailment requires proactive reflection on rail safety actions that Congress can take now.”

Speakers:             

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell

Irma Esparza Diggs, Senior Executive and Director, National League of Cities 

Deanna Dawson, Executive Director for the Association of Washington Cities from Olympia, WA

Mayor Jeff Silvestrini from Millcreek, Utah

Mayor Deborah VanMatre, from Gibbon, Nebraska

Commissioner William Harris from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina

City Manager Pamela Polk from Collinsville, Oklahoma

Village Administrator Maureen Murphy from Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin 

Executive Director John Brenner Pennsylvania Municipal League from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

View the full list of communities represented at the press conference: