• (Per Politico) A Supreme Court ruling this week gave the president power to fire certain independent regulators. The ruling in an FTC case has implications for former NTSB and STB members who were fired by the Trump Administration, overturning longstanding precedent that protected independent agency leaders from firing without cause.

• A federal judge ruled this week that the Trump administration could not cancel federally obligated funds for the Gateway tunnel project. The judge ruled that the administration had acted “contrary to law” when it suspended the flow of funds for the NY-NJ tunnel.

• With only eight legislative days left on the calendar until the House’s August recess, it is unlikely that the BUILD America 250 Act (the House’s surface transportation reauthorization bill) will make it to the floor for a vote before fall.  Moreover, the Senate has yet to signal any progress on their own bill. The current legislation expires September 30.

• Applications are open until July 24 for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP). The program provides funding to protect critical transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from terrorism, to increase transportation infrastructure resilience, and to update emergency management and security plans. For FY2026, the program will award $88.35 million in grants.

Stadler Rail is celebrating 10 years in Utah
and an expansion of their Salt Lake City facility.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Transit is running out of track (Politico)

• VRE Acquires Alexandria Rail Yard (Railway Age)

• UP-NS merger discovery process kicks off with establishment of guidelines (RailPRIME)

• SCOTUS Slams Door on STB’s Primus (Railway Age)

• Hitachi Rail completes acquisition of Clever Devices (Mass Transit)