ANNAPOLIS — Members of Congress are praising Maryland lawmakers for approving a bill requiring the French rail company SNCF to disclose its role in transporting victims of the Holocaust, if the company seeks a procurement contract to provide MARC train service in the state.

In a letter released Wednesday, eight lawmakers point out that the Maryland law will be the first of its kind in the nation. A bill has been introduced in Congress that would give victims the opportunity to bring a class action lawsuit in U.S. court, which the company has avoided due to foreign sovereign immunity.

A spokesman for Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, says he will sign the Maryland bill on Thursday.

The letter was signed by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Leana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Ted Deutch, D-Fla., Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Allen West, R-Fla., C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., and John Sarbanes, D-Md.,

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