Potential for Vicarious Liability Under the Graves Amendment
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, clarifying the standards for judicial review of challenges to agency action under the National Environmental Policy Act...more
On November 6, 2024, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would mandate cyber risk management and reporting requirements for certain surface transportation...more
The Transportation Security Administration's ("TSA") proposed rule would require owners and operators of certain pipeline, freight railroad, passenger railroad, rail transit, and over-the-road bus ("OTRB") systems to...more
International laws for cargo liability impact the way enterprises procure transportation and logistics services, the contracts under which those services are purchased, the process for claims adjudication, and the liability...more
The law, which took effect in June, impacts developers, investors, lenders, operators, and suppliers in the Saudi railway sector. As Saudi Arabia continues to make significant advances in urban development and mobility,...more
It hasn’t been the easiest year for America’s railroad companies. Last Fall, in the midst of an inflationary panic, a national rail strike threatened to disrupt the nation’s shipping system, before that was resolved through a...more
Dozens of ships anchored outside of America’s busiest ports, steadily spiking freight rates, and frustrated consumers inheriting both the paralyzing delays and the exorbitant price increases: these have been the painful...more
The rail sector in Great Britain is about to experience the most significant structural change since privatisation. The Government is abandoning the current franchise-based model, in favour of a new “Passenger Rail Contract”...more
On Wednesday, July 28, the group of senators working on bipartisan infrastructure legislation announced they had reached agreement on a $1.2 trillion package containing funding for roads, bridges, broadband and public...more
On 20 May 2021, the government published its white paper for the railways in Britain after an 18-month delay due to the pandemic - ‘Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail’ (the Plan). The government...more
As noted in Part 1 and Part 2, during the presidential campaign, candidate Joe Biden called for "Sparking the second great railroad revolution." Biden pledged to "make sure that America has the cleanest, safest, and fastest...more
On May 29, 2020, the Federal Circuit issued its decision in Caquelin v. United States, reaffirming precedent governing the way courts evaluate the taking of private property in Rails-to-Trails litigation—specifically, that a...more
The Surface Transportation Board reaffirms that its regulatory processes must be followed in order to extinguish a railroad's common carrier obligation. Lack of use of a rail line and removal of tracks are not sufficient...more
The Subcommittee on Highways and Transit and Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials of the United States House of Representatives (“Subcommittee”) held a hearing on December 5th titled: Where’s My...more
The Port of Vancouver USA and its rail partners BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad have substantially completed a $251M railroad access improvement project which significantly increases rail access in the port. ...more
Last week, we reported on a $10 million award issued by the State to help revitalize downtown Hicksville. Well, the Governor is at it again. ...more
OSHA has scheduled a meeting on June 12, 2018, in Washington, D.C., to solicit comments and suggestions from stakeholders in the trucking and railroad industries, on whistleblower issues within OSHA’s purview. 83 Fed. Reg....more
• The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the $1.5 billion in surface transportation grants provided by the FY 2018 Omnibus Appropriations legislation. • This...more
Wednesday, the City of Chicago selected two finalists in its procurement process for the planned O’Hare Express, a mass transit system that will connect downtown Chicago to O’Hare International Airport within 20...more
The Northern Lights Express intercity rail proposal, connecting Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota with a stop in Superior, Wisconsin, advanced forward following a Finding of No Significant Impact (“FONSI”) from the Federal...more
• The Supreme Court declines to review a lower court ruling that the Surface Transportation Board cannot assume regulatory authority that Congress unconstitutionally delegated to the Federal Railroad Administration and...more
On February 12, 2018, the White House unveiled its 55-page proposal for infrastructure investment, the Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure. The sweeping proposal seeks to inject funding into several key areas...more
It has been 14 years since the 9/11 Commission Report was issued, in which many recommendations were made to improve security in the U.S. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has still not yet implemented three of...more
American Rail Engineers Corp. (ARE), based in Irvine, California, recently acquired a New Hampshire drone services company, Media Wing, LLC (Media Wing), to conduct geographic information system (GIS) mapping and data...more
In a recent preemption decision, the Surface Transportation Board (“STB”) rejected a city’s attempt to mandate that a railroad reinstall a grade crossing. The STB’s order appears to call into question the enforceability of...more