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
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
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
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
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
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
President Trump recently appointed former Seyfarth Shaw LLP (“Seyfarth”) attorney Juan D. Reyes, III as Chief Counsel of the Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”). Mr. Reyes was previously a partner in the real estate...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
Seyfarth Synopsis: DOT has withdrawn its rulemaking on safety sensitive positions in highway and rail transportation. This week the U.S. Department of Transportation has withdrawn its March 10, 2016 Advance Notice of...more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 Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has announced final rules permitting eligible petitioners to submit proposals to replace Amtrak on up to three Amtrak routes. The rules implement provisions of the Fixing America's...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
Failure to Implement Safety Measures Will Result in Interrupted Railway Service - Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Washington, D.C. Government Relations Services team is monitoring an urgent issue now being considered by the...more
On June 9, 2015, the Federal Railroad Administration ("FRA") issued Safety Advisory 2015-03 requiring passenger railroads to make operational and signal modifications to ensure compliance with speed restrictions. The FRA is...more
In July 2013, the D.C. Circuit ruled that Section 207 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 ("PRIIA"), under which Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration ("FRA") jointly established metrics and...more
Recent accidents involving rail cars transporting crude oil from the Bakken shale region have resulted in the heightened interest of rail industry regulators and other federal agencies, including the Pipeline and Hazardous...more
Last week I attended an invitation only round table organized by Karen Hedlund, Deputy Administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration. The round table was held in conjunction with the High Speed Rail Conference held...more
On August 2, 2013 the Federal Railroad Administration ("FRA") released Emergency Order No. 28, Notice No. 1 and Safety Advisory 2013-06 in response to the July 2013 tragedy in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, Canada where a cargo train...more
In 2008, Congress mandated the installation of positive train control ("PTC") communications and signaling technology on many passenger and freight rail lines by the end of 2015. 49 U.S.C. § 20157. Congress tasked the...more