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
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 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
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 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
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
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
The Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”) has released its latest Positive Train Control (“PTC”) implementation progress report for the 2nd quarter of 2018. The FRA’s latest report indicates that railroads are making steady...more
Last week FRA issued a notice of grant funding of $318 million for rail infrastructure and safety improvements through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Grants Program known as CRISI. The deadline...more
As the December 31, 2018 deadline approaches for freight, passenger, and commuter railroads to implement Positive Train Control (“PTC”), the Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”) is reporting on the progress of individual...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
Prompted by regulatory changes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding emission standards for locomotives, several railroads and locomotive manufacturers have been working for several years to develop...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
• 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
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
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
On November 16, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit determined that claims arising from the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (“ICCTA”) can be litigated in the federal courts or at the...more
Positive Train Control ("PTC") is a system that will automatically apply the train’s brakes in certain situations. PTC systems consist of technologies designed to help detect dangerous situations and automatically intervene...more
In Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Surface Transportation Board, No. 16-3307, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has held that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) exceeded its authority when it promulgated...more
After nearly four years of planning and evaluation, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) released its Preferred Alternative to improve the Northeast Corridor for passenger rail transportation from Washington, DC, to...more
There was a plenty of rail-related activity during the 114th Congress and the last two years of the Obama Administration. Amtrak and the Surface Transportation Board (STB) were reauthorized with major changes to Amtrak's...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Federal Railroad Administration’s new Safety Advisory seeks to cover activities that fall outside the scope of FRA safety regulations, but within the purview of the OSHA regulations. The Federal...more
An Amtrak train collided with a maintenance vehicle in Chester, Pennsylvania, killing two Amtrak employees, Backhoe operator Joseph Carter Jr., and supervisor Peter Adamovich in the early morning of April 3, 2016. About 30...more