(Reuters) – The head of the Federal Railroad Administration, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and a senior pipeline safety agency official will testify at a U.S. House subcommittee hearing on rail safety on July 23.

In May 2023, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee passed a sweeping overhaul of rail safety legislation following the February 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio. This forced residents to temporarily evacuate their homes after the train caught fire and released more than 1 million gallons of hazardous materials and pollutants. However, there has been little movement since then.

Last week, a bill nearly identical to the one passed by the Senate committee was introduced in the House of Representatives, but it is still unclear what will happen in Congress.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, FRA Administrator Amit Bose and Tristan Brown, deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, are among the witnesses, along with two railroad union officials.

On Friday, the FRA released its investigation into the derailment, which found that the accident was caused by a roller bearing that failed due to overheating, consistent with the NTSB’s findings. The FRA also added that “the railroad’s procedures and inadequate personnel for communicating information” may have contributed to the accident.

The Senate bill would mandate technology that can identify equipment failures, prevent cursory inspections of rail cars, and require stricter safety regulations for trains carrying explosive materials like the Ohio train. It would increase the maximum civil penalties from $225,455 to $10 million for serious rail safety violations, and require two crew members to operate a train.

The NTSB’s recommendations include improving systems for detecting rail defects, modernizing the nation’s tank car fleets and providing real-time rail safety information to emergency responders.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday: “We are taking action on the NTSB’s recommendations, but now we also need Congress to do its part to improve rail safety and hold railroads accountable by passing much-needed legislation.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson)