Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, introduced the Railroad Advancement of Innovation and Leadership with Safety (RAILS) Act (S. 1451) on June 28. The legislation would “allow for performance-based safety standards in place of traditional command-and-control prescriptive regulation, and mandate that future Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) rulemakings be based on data-driven, sound science validated through transparent peer review,” according to RailwayAge Congressional Editor Frank N. Wilner.