HR 8894 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Passenger Rail Crew Protection Act
To prosecute, as a Federal crime, the assault or intimidation of a passenger train crew member in a manner consistent with the prosecution of assault or intimidation of an aircraft crew member.
Summary
This bill creates a new federal crime for assaulting or intimidating passenger train crew members, including engineers, conductors, onboard personnel, safety-sensitive employees, and station employees. The law applies to conduct occurring onboard a passenger train in operation, on platforms serving a passenger train, or in rail stations serving passenger trains. Violators face penalties ranging from a fine and up to six months imprisonment for simple assault to up to 20 years imprisonment for the most serious offenses. Enhanced penalties apply when the assault involves striking or wounding (up to 1 year), intent to commit another crime (up to 10 years), use of a dangerous weapon (up to 10 years), intent to cause bodily harm (up to 10 years), resulting serious bodily injury (up to 10 years), or intent to commit murder (up to 20 years).
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Gillen, Laura [D-NY-4] (D-NY)
4 cosponsors
Actions (2)
- May 19, 2026 Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
- May 19, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 19, 2026
Ms. Gillen (for herself and Mr. Van Drew) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prosecute, as a Federal crime, the assault or intimidation of a passenger train crew member in a manner consistent with the prosecution of assault or intimidation of an aircraft crew member.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Passenger Rail Crew Protection Act”.
SEC. 2. INTERFERENCE WITH PASSENGER TRAIN CREW MEMBERS.
(a) In General.—Chapter 281 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Sec. 28104. Interference with passenger train crew members
“(a) Definitions.—In this section:
“(1) Crew member.—The term ‘crew member’ means any of the following employees:
“(A) An engineer.
“(B) A conductor.
“(C) Onboard personnel.
“(D) An employee performing, or responsible for, a safety-sensitive function.
“(E) An employee performing a function at a rail station in service of a passenger train, including with respect to ticketing, check-in, baggage claim, or boarding.
“(2) Dangerous weapon.—The term ‘dangerous weapon’ has the meaning given such term in section 1992(d) of title 18.
“(3) Passenger train.—The term ‘passenger train’ means a passenger train in intercity rail passenger transportation (as defined in section 24102) or commuter rail passenger transportation (as defined in section 24102).
“(4) Serious bodily injury.—The term ‘serious bodily injury’ has the meaning given such term in section 1365(h) of title 18.
“(b) Offense.—It shall be unlawful for any person onboard a passenger train in operation, on a platform serving a passenger train in operation, or in a rail station that serves passenger trains—
“(1) to assault a crew member and thereby interfere with the performance of the duties of a crew member or lessen the ability of a crew member to perform those duties; or
“(2) to attempt or conspire to perform an act described in paragraph (1).
“(c) Penalties.—
“(1) In general.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), any person who violates subsection (b) shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 6 months, or both.
“(2) Aggravated penalties.—If a person violates subsection (b)—
“(A) by striking, beating, or wounding, the maximum term of imprisonment under paragraph (1) shall be 1 year;
“(B) with intent to commit any crime punishable by more than 1 year of imprisonment, except murder, the maximum term of imprisonment under paragraph (1) shall be 10 years;
“(C) with a dangerous weapon or with intent to cause bodily harm, the maximum term of imprisonment under paragraph (1) shall be 10 years;
“(D) and the violation results in serious bodily injury, the maximum term of imprisonment under paragraph (1) shall be 10 years; or
“(E) with intent to commit murder, the maximum term of imprisonment under paragraph (1) shall be 20 years.”.
(b) Clerical Amendment.—The table of sections for chapter 281 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“Sec. 28104. Interference with passenger train crew members.”. <all>
Comments