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
In October 2023, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) updated three of its cybersecurity directives regulating passenger and freight railroad carriers. The following security directives have been renewed for one...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
On May 26, 2023, the New Jersey Appellate Division in Kalloo v. New York New Jersey Rail, LLC affirmed summary judgment in favor of the employer finding there was no evidence that age played any role in the termination of the...more
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced that it has doubled all of its rail safety civil monetary penalty (CMP) base amounts for violations of rail safety and hazardous materials regulations. The changes are...more
Background Critical infrastructure providers confront unique cyber threats. The use of operational technology (OT) introduces risks that arise from, for example, legacy equipment that cannot readily be patched, updated, or...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
In its continued efforts to enhance the cybersecurity of transportation and other critical infrastructure systems across the country, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued on October 19, 2022 a new security...more
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the federal agency that regulates rail safety, introduced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on July 28, 2022, that addresses the number of employees required to operate a train,...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
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, H.R. 3684 (117), was signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021. In addition to $66 billion in funding for passenger and freight railroads, the law contains a number...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
As noted in Part 1, 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 rail system...more
The United States is awash in oil. The Coronavirus Pandemic has collapsed global demand and at the same time, increased oil production by Saudi Arabia and Russia has caused oil supply to surge. Facing a potential need for...more
Earlier this year, a federal jury in Delaware found that Westinghouse Air Brake d/b/a Wabtec infringed eight patents owned by Siemens Mobility, including finding willful infringement as to two of the patents. The asserted...more
This Week: Senate Commerce Subcommittee convenes drone security hearing, Hawley introduces plan to amend Section 230, Senate Commerce Committee discusses surface transportation reauthorization, USTR holds hearings on proposed...more
The House convenes Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 2pm. On the floor this week in the House - Items that may be considered under suspension of the rules: - H.R. 876 Pacific Northwest Earthquake Preparedness Act of 2019...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
Effective today, the Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA”), Federal Transit Administration (“FTA”), and Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”) begin operating with amended regulations to implement the purposes and...more
Through a Final Rule effective November 28, 2018, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will amend their National Environmental Policy Act...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