Montana lawmaker seeks four new railroad inspectors after audit and 2024 derailments

Representative Katie Zolenkopf, sponsor of House Bill 103, told the House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee that the bill would statutorily appropriate a portion of the rail car tax to fund four additional railroad inspector positions at the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC).

The bill matters, Zolenkopf said, because Montana has 3,680 track miles and currently only two PSC inspectors certified in the motive, power and equipment (MP&E) discipline; a 2015 Legislative Audit Division report recommended increased inspection coverage and, Zolenkopf noted, the state recorded seven train derailments in 2024.

“The gist of what House Bill 103 is doing is we are with the committee's will, we are going to take some money from the general fund and we are going to statutorily appropriate it to funding some new railroad inspectors for the PSC,” Representative Katie Zolenkopf said. She told the committee the bill would add two track inspectors, one operating-practices (human factors) inspector with statewide coverage and one additional MP&E inspector based in Havre.

Trevor Graff of the Public Service Commission told the committee the idea began with the Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee and a legislative audit finding that the PSC’s railroad safety program needed more resources. “This is still the place that's probably the lowest hanging fruit for improvement as far as performance goes in the programs at the PSC,” Graff said, describing the bill as a way to close a long-standing staffing gap.

Dan Sherwood, the PSC’s railroad program manager, described the current statutory authority and the federal-state enforcement framework the PSC operates under. “Our authority for inspections currently comes under MCA Title 69, Chapter 14, and we primarily enforce federal regulations due to the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970,” Sherwood said. He explained Montana participates in the Federal Railroad Administration’s State Safety Participation (Part 212) program, that PSC inspectors are FRA-certified after about a year of training, and that inspectors split the state into east and west coverage under the present two-person MP&E program.

Sherwood said the MP&E discipline inspects locomotives, freight cars and brake systems and that the most common enforcement tools are comments, defective-condition orders that require repair before movement, special notices and, for egregious willful violations, civil penalties. He listed the three most common causes of derailments as MP&E defects, track problems and operating-practices issues — the disciplines the bill would expand the PSC into.

BNSF Railway’s Steve Wade, an informational witness, said BNSF maintains an extensive safety program in Montana with “40 plus folks in Montana doing rail and track inspections” and invests in track-monitoring technology. “BNSF safety has always been and will continue to be our top priority,” Wade told the committee.

Members of the committee asked how the PSC’s inspections relate to railroad-conducted daily mechanical checks and federal rules. Sherwood and Graff explained that daily locomotive inspections are required of railroad crews under federal rules and that the PSC’s role is regulatory oversight and enforcement to ensure compliance. Sherwood also confirmed that, under the PSC’s current Part 212 partnership with the FRA, civil penalties assessed for federal violations are remitted to the FRA.

Committee members asked about hazmat inspection capacity. Sherwood confirmed the PSC currently lacks a hazmat-certified inspector and said the program’s limited staffing prevents reallocating current inspectors to hazmat work without weakening MP&E coverage. He said cross-certification is possible if additional positions are funded.

On funding, Zolenkopf told the committee the bill relies on a small statutory appropriation: 8% of a rail-car tax collection that was estimated at about $4 million in 2014. The fiscal note cited roughly $315,000 in new spending for 2026 to support the additional inspector positions and onboarding; Zolenkopf said the interim committee worked with the PSC to calculate staffing and cost figures.

No final committee vote on House Bill 103 was recorded during the hearing; the hearing concluded after sponsor and witness testimony and committee questions. The committee later proceeded to executive actions on other measures during the same meeting.

Ending: The committee closed the hearing on House Bill 103 after testimony and questions; sponsors and PSC staff said they are available for follow-up as the bill moves through the legislature.