Cutrona Supports Amendments to Transportation Budget Enhancing Train Safety

State Rep. Al Cutrona (R-Canfield) voted to support several amendments in the House Finance Committee on Tuesday for the transportation budget legislation, which included language enhancing train safety. 

The legislation under House Bill 23 was voted out of that committee today and now is expected to be on the House floor for a vote on Wednesday.

“I’m proud to stand with the residents of East Palestine and the Valley to ensure we’re working to enhance train safety in Ohio,” said Cutrona. “Situations like this should never happen again, and we need to do what we can to mitigate these dangerous accidents that severely impact our communities.”

The amendments added to the transportation budget bill concerning train safety include the following: 

• Requires the Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUCO) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) to work with each railroad company in Ohio to ensure that the wayside detector systems are operational, effective and current.
• Mandates that a train must have a two-person crew.

Cutrona is a member of both the House Finance Committee and the Finance Subcommittee on Transportation, which oversees the legislative process of the critical transportation budget pertaining to these issues.