In the year since the East Palestine train derailment, rail safety has been a hot button issue in the United States. After the East Palestine derailment dominated news headlines in late February and March of 2023, there...more
Happy New Year! The Department of Transportation’s operating agencies have announced their random drug and alcohol testing rates for 2024. These rates are the annual minimum drug and alcohol random testing rates. The rates...more
The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is suspending a rule that allows liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be transported by rail in specialized tank cars, starting 31 October 2023. This final rule overturns a Trump-era rule...more
Welcome to The On-Ramp, the newsletter from 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 mobility...more
The Department of Transportation’s operating agencies have announced their random drug and alcohol testing rates for 2022. The random test rates did not change, except for maintenance-of-way workers under the Federal Railway...more
On 8 November 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to propose a temporary suspension of transport...more
The Department of Transportation’s operating agencies have announced their random drug and alcohol testing rates for 2021. The random test rates did not change for 2021...more
The Department of Transportation’s operating agencies have announced their random drug and alcohol testing rates for 2019. The Federal Transit Administration and the United States Coast Guard have raised their random drug...more
New regulations took effect last month governing the federal environmental review process for highway, public transit and some railroad projects. This update highlights 10 important changes in the new regulations, as well as...more
On October 29, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule in the Federal Register which amends and revises the environmental National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures rules employed by the...more
As described in previous blog posts on May 7, 2018 and March 13, 2018, regulatory changes are needed before liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be transported by rail tanker cars under applicable Hazardous Materials and Carriage...more
On May 7, 2018, the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) finally responded to the Petition for Rulemaking filed by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). As...more
A recent Boston Globe editorial entitled “Gas-by-train? Beacon Hill Opens The Door” suggests that liquefied natural gas (LNG) may be arriving by train to New England from the shale gas region in Pennsylvania in the future....more
In a decision that had become all but inevitable, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), on December 4, 2017 rescinded its rule that would have required railroads carrying highly hazardous flammable materials, such as...more
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA), (U.S. DOT) have published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on DOT’s Program for Eliminating...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: DOT has withdrawn its rulemaking on safety sensitive positions in highway and rail transportation. This week the U.S. Department of Transportation has withdrawn its March 10, 2016 Advance Notice of...more
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration’s (“FRA”) final rule expanding drug and alcohol testing to maintenance-of-way (“MOW”) employees takes effect on June 12, 2017. MOW employees are...more
Two Week Highway Trust Fund Extension While Conference Takes Place - Congress agreed to extend the Highway Trust Fund by two weeks until Dec. 4 so that House and Senate conferees could meet to craft a final version of...more
On May 1, 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation, acting through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, issued a much-anticipated final rule on the enhanced tank car standards and operational...more
On May 1, the Department of Transportation—through its operating agencies the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration—issued its final crude-by-rail rule. The rule...more
The transportation of crude oil by rail continues to be a key issue for rail and energy industry stakeholders as well as policy makers. Below is a summary of recent developments. 1. DOT Takes Six Crude-by-Rail Safety...more
Railroad transportation of raw petroleum, often referred to as “crude-by-rail,” has received increasing media attention in recent months, due to health and environmental concerns. California took a stab at legislating rail...more
The Supreme Court will begin its new term on Monday, October 6, 2014. Although the Court has not yet accepted for review any headline-grabbing cases of the type we’ve seen in recent years in such areas as campaign finance,...more
Proposed sweeping new safety requirements for rail transportation of large quantities of flammable liquids, including crude oil, could increase costs significantly. Since 2013, the Department of Transportation’s (DOT)...more
The 141-year-old Baltimore and Potomac (B&P) Tunnel is a major bottleneck on the Northeast Corridor, but Amtrak, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) are conducting a...more