Summary — HB 639: Railroad Safety Omnibus Act
Status (selected timeline)
- Introduced: February 14, 2025
- Passed 1st Reading (original filed version): March 4, 2025
- Referred to multiple committees (Rules, Budget, Ways & Means, State Affairs, etc.) late Feb 2025
- Later actions: indefinitely postponed / withdrawn (May 3, 2025); died in State Affairs Committee (June 16, 2025)
Purpose
- To strengthen railroad-related public safety by (1) educating drivers about the railroad Emergency Notification System (ENS); (2) creating a criminal penalty for misuse of ENS; (3) requiring new school-bus safety procedures and training related to railroad-track incidents; (4) limiting freight train length and imposing minimum crew-size / related operational safety requirements; and (5) implementing other measures intended to reduce collisions, improve emergency response, and incentivize safer railroad operations.
Key provisions (draft / omnibus components)
- Driver education and DMV materials
- Require the state driver license handbook and driver education curricula to include instruction on Emergency Notification Systems (ENS) for highway-rail and pathway grade crossings (how to locate the crossing’s DOT National Crossing Inventory number and the posted railroad dispatch phone number; when to call).
- DMV to provide free copies of the handbook to public school driver-education programs upon request.
Criminal penalty for ENS misuse
- Makes it unlawful to call or access ENS for purposes other than emergency communications if the caller is not reporting an unsafe condition, providing ENS services, or responding to ENS reports (per 49 C.F.R. §234.301).
- Draft criminal classification: Class 1 misdemeanor for knowing violations.
School-bus measures
- New duty for bus drivers whose vehicle stalls on railroad tracks: evacuate all passengers to safety, then report the stalled bus location to (a) the dispatching railroad via ENS and (b) the employing school transportation system.
- Require revisions to school-bus driver handbooks and training to reflect the above duties.
Freight train length and crew-size (operational safety)
- Proposes a statewide maximum freight-train length (draft example: 8,500 feet).
- Violations classified as Class 1 misdemeanors with tiered fines (drafted minimum/maximum ranges — e.g., first offense $250–$1,000; higher penalties for repeat offenses).
- The bill text as circulated also referenced minimum crew sizes and other operational measures; some specifics were truncated or varied across drafts.
Who is affected
- Motorists and driver-education programs (curriculum/handbook changes)
- School systems, school-bus drivers and operators (training, procedures, incident reporting)
- Railroads and train operators (train-length limits, crew-size rules, reporting systems)
- Law enforcement and DMV/state transportation agencies (enforcement, training material development)
- General public (improved guidance about reporting rail emergencies; potential public-safety benefits)
- Rail and logistics industry (operational/financial impacts from length or crew-size limits)
Potential impacts and considerations
- Safety: Aims to reduce collisions and improve emergency response by increasing public awareness of ENS and by mandating evacuation/reporting procedures for stalled buses.
- Enforcement and criminalization: Misuse of ENS would be criminalized, requiring enforcement resources.
- Operational & economic: Train length or crew-size restrictions could affect railroad operations, scheduling, and cost structures; fines provide enforcement but also regulatory risk for carriers.
- Administrative: DMV, Departments of Education, and school districts would need to incorporate new materials and training; railroads would need to ensure ENS contactability and compliance.
- Fiscal: Drafts identify misdemeanor fines and potential state/local enforcement workload; detailed fiscal estimates depend on final text and implementation decisions.
Procedural note
- Multiple versions and related bills (including earlier North Carolina drafts from 2023 and other state bills with the same bill number on different topics) exist in the public record. The HB 639 “Railroad Safety Omnibus Act” described here drew primarily from North Carolina draft language that appeared in 2023–2025 sessions. The 2025 bill did not complete enactment (listed as indefinitely postponed/died in committee).
