She continues to press for passage of the bipartisan Reducing Accidents in Locomotives (RAIL) Act , one of the most comprehensive rail safety proposals in Congress. The bill would require two-person train crews, increase inspections, strengthen safety standards, improve emergency notification, and raise penalties for rail safety violations.
Keep pressing for passage of the bipartisan RAIL Act to require two-person train crews, more inspections, stronger safety standards, improved emergency notification, and higher penalties for rail safety violations.
Occurrences
Evidence
The official press-release archive's visible June 2026 entries are on housing, biomedical research, and an FBI raid statement; no rail-safety or RAIL Act item appears in the current 30-day listing.
Sykes said she introduced an amendment to codify the RAIL Act in a House Transportation and Infrastructure reconciliation bill. The release says the amendment was not ultimately considered on the House floor and lists the intended safety provisions: two-person crews, more inspections, emergency notifications, stronger placards, wheel-bearing rules, higher penalties, first-responder training, and audit requirements.
Sykes led a letter to Ohio officials urging a feasibility study for an Akron-Canton rail stop and said she had continued advocating for passenger rail expansion, including raising the issue in a Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing.
Assessments
Sykes appears to have made a serious effort to advance the promised rail-safety agenda, most clearly by introducing a 2025 amendment to codify the RAIL Act’s core provisions in House legislation. But the amendment was not considered on the floor, and the provided evidence does not show passage of the RAIL Act or enactment of those safety requirements through another vehicle. Her other cited rail advocacy concerns passenger-rail planning, not delivery of this specific safety bill. That supports a failed but genuine attempt rather than fulfillment.