• Per Law360 | The U.S. Supreme Court this week signaled skepticism toward New Jersey's bid to cloak its public transit system in sovereign immunity, repeatedly questioning why the state chose the corporate form and rejected liability for the agency's debts but now insists the entity functions as an arm of the state.

  The question presented in New Jersey Transit Corp. et al. v. Colt et al. and Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corp. is whether the New Jersey Transit Corp. is an arm of the State of New Jersey for interstate sovereign immunity purposes. The Commuter Rail Coalition filed an amicus brief with the court supporting NJ Transit’s position.

  In oral arguments in two consolidated cases brought by injured riders who sued NJ Transit outside New Jersey, Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor, Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan pressed the state's counsel on the structural choices that appear to cut against immunity. The court's most conservative members — Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. — asked for more recent precedent supporting New Jersey's position, suggesting they have questions about the state's broad theory of sovereignty.

Read more here & here.

• Per Politico | Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met with President Trump this week to discuss, among other things, the Gateway tunnel. According to the senator’s office, Schumer urged Trump to “promptly release the already-secured funds for the Gateway Program.”

  During the government shutdown Trump threatened to defund the project and said that it was “terminated,” though Secretary Duffy later said the infrastructure effort wasn’t dead. Promised federal money is still being held up for the project.

  Gateway Development Commission is a member of the CRC.

Progressive Railroading has announced 55 honorees for the magazine’s second annual Women of Influence in Rail recognition program.

“With women currently representing less than 10% of the rail workforce, many rail-sector companies see this gap as an opportunity for growth and are engaged in outreach efforts to promote railroading to women who, historically, may not have considered railroading as a career.” - Progressive Railroading magazine

The Commuter Rail Coalition congratulates all of this year’s awardees, but particularly the nine women who are using their exceptional skills in leadership, innovation, technology and sustainability to advance the nation’s commuter railroads, including:

• Robyn Hollander, Metro-North Railroad, sustainability.

• Elizabeth Hotetz, Metro-North Railroad, leadership.

• Jenny Kane, Metra, leadership.

• Raquel Perez Watson, Metro-North Railroad, innovation.

• Katherine Read, Maryland Area Regional Commuter Train Service, leadership.

• Beth Sullivan, Long Island Rail Road, leadership.

• Adrienne Taylor, Stacy Witbeck, leadership.

• Xiaojing Wei, Metro-North Railroad, technology.

• Yuewei Wu, Long Island Rail Road, sustainability.

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program has set a January 30th deadline for nominations to join project “J11/55: The Impact of Positive Train Control”.

For more information on the project and to apply to serve on the panel, please visit this link. Once there, go to the bullet: Submit a Panel Nomination. Transit Project J-11 Task 55 is at the end.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Inside the federal program powering transit rail fleet replacement and domestic manufacturing growth (Mass Transit)

• Future of Tri-Rail remains uncertain despite increase in ridership (FOX 29 WFLX.com)

• DART warns of immediate service cuts if five cities vote to leave transit system (5 NBC DFW)

• The backbone of thriving cities: Why commuter trains matter more than ever (Alstom)

• TEXRail sets new ridership record (Metro Magazine)

• SEPTA crime rates continue downward trend (Metro Magazine)