Potential for Vicarious Liability Under the Graves Amendment
Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Government unveiled its long-anticipated legislative proposal to regulate online hailing hire car services. This legislative proposal will pave the way to remove the legal uncertainty...more
President Trump took steps to dismantle California’s vehicle emissions standards on June 12, 2025, by signing three Congressional Review Act (“CRA”) resolutions revoking California’s waiver under the Clean Air Act. The waiver...more
The U.S. inland waterway system is a critical and underutilized component of the domestic supply chain that serves intrastate commerce and non-contiguous markets originating in or destined for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S....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
Over one million shipments of hazardous materials reportedly travel in U.S. commerce every single day. A common misunderstanding is the nature of hazardous materials—they are more commonplace than you think!...more
Welcome to The On-Ramp, the newsletter published by Venable's Autonomous and Connected Mobility team. The On-Ramp explores legal and policy developments in the world of autonomous vehicles, smart infrastructure, and emerging...more
This December, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued a pair of Directives establishing cybersecurity measures for high-risk freight rail, passenger rail, and rail transit owners and operators. These...more
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which President Biden is expected to sign into law, contains some important changes to the federal environmental review process for surface transportation projects. Most...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
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has issued a comprehensive decision that will likely forestall years of litigation over the scope of the Clean Water Act's (CWA) application to the interstate rail network. In...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
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced in a December 10th new release the availability of grant funding to implement: . . . projects aimed at reducing emissions from the nation’s existing fleet...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
More and more, when people discuss the automotive industry, they refer to “mobility”. The word is not new. Even a quick online search will find it used as far back as 2016. Back then, an early proposed definition was...more
• On May 15, 2019, the White House issued a new national security Executive Order (EO) focused on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Services Supply Chain, which impacts all modes within the transportation...more
Earlier this summer, Bay Area voters passed Regional Measure 3 with 54% of the vote, authorizing $4.5 billion of transportation improvements throughout the region. ...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
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (“Court of Appeals”) addressed in an August 6 opinion whether certain activities involving wood pellets qualified as “transportation by rail carrier” under the...more
On June 13, the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works held a hearing on “Innovation and America’s Infrastructure: Examining the Effects of Emerging Autonomous Technologies on America’s Roads and Bridges,”...more
For many decades, Long Islanders have been hearing about proposals to span over or under Long Island Sound. The most recent pronouncement for a cross-sound tunnel or bridge came from Governor Cuomo in his 2016 state-of-state...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
Regional mass-transit systems are often plagued by the permitting challenges associated with construction in multiple cities, each with its own priorities, regulations, and permitting processes. For example, the cost of the...more
Over the last several years, the federal government has promoted public-private partnerships (“P3s”) as one way to address the dire need for American infrastructure investment. States agree. For example, last year in...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