• The Federal Transit Administration last week announced it has amended a contract condition in grant agreements that earlier this year required grant recipients to cooperate with federal officials in enforcing immigration laws.

  The FTA's announcement is in response to a Nov. 4 decision in which a federal judge ruled that the U.S. DOT’s order mandating grant recipients to cooperate with immigration enforcement by federal officials is unlawful, FTA officials said in a press release.

  The court ruling responded to a lawsuit from several states after DOT Secretary Sean Duffy informed grant recipients in an April letter that as recipients of federal funds they are legally obligated to comply with all applicable federal laws and regulations, including cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal offices and components of the Department of Homeland Security in the enforcement of federal immigration law. (Via Progressive Railroading)

• Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) has announced he will not be seeking reelection next year. Congressman Nehls has been an advocate for issues of importance to the nation’s commuter railroads. Last year, as chair of the House Railroads Subcommittee, he convened the first hearing in at least a decade to “discuss the state of commuter passenger rail, with a focus on developing commuter rail to ensure it is safe, efficient, cost-effective, and that it meets the demands of the public.” And earlier this fall he introduced legislation that would provide relief from the 30-day implementation timeline for the upcoming excess liability insurance cap.

• It is increasingly unlikely surface bill text from the House or Senate will drop over the next few weeks. House Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) had been pushing for an accelerated timeline on the surface bill — but the government shutdown has appeared to push those plans back a bit. Now, he wants a markup of the bill early next year. (Per Politico)

NICTD CEO Mike Noland has announced his plan to retire in early 2026.

Noland took the helm of NICTD/South Shore Line in 2014 with over three decades in the railroad industry. Prior to joining the South Shore Line, he worked for 28 years at Metra where he served as Chief Human Resources Officer, General Counsel, and Deputy Executive Director. Immediately prior to joining the South Shore Line, Noland worked as an executive with a private sector railroad holding company with rail operations in 9 states and the United Kingdom.

Noland has recently led NICTD through two major projects: a $933 million New Starts project known as the West Lake Corridor which expands rail service into western Lake County, Indiana, and the $491 million Double Track NWI (Northwest Indiana) project. These projects are designed to unlock the true potential of Northwest Indiana by taking full advantage of the region’s proximity to Chicago and increase the area’s population, create an additional 6,000 jobs and attract $2.5 billion in private sector investment in transit orientated development.

Noland is the immediate past chair of the Commuter Rail Coalition. A national search for his successor at NICTD is being conducted by Chris Boylan at Harris Rand.

Effective January 20, 2026, Katie Choe will lead the commuter rail service that connects Northern and Central Virginia to Washington, DC’s urban core. Choe will replace VRE’s former CEO Rich Dalton, who retired at the beginning of October.

With 25 years of program management and safety oversight leadership in the transportation sector, Choe brings a wealth of experience closely aligned to VRE’s mission. Most recently, she served as the Chief of Staff to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Choe has also served as chief engineer for the City of Boston Public Works, and as a program manager at Massport, the Massachusetts Port Authority. In these roles, she delivered numerous major infrastructure projects with an emphasis on safety and quality.

Choe takes the helm of VRE at a pivotal point for the organization. Following the adoption earlier this year of VRE’s 2050 Service Plan and Vision, and a multi-billion dollar investment in the region’s rail infrastructure through the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative, VRE prepares to increase service to expand beyond commuter-focused rail and position itself as a regional rail network, with first-ever weekend and late-night service, and increased bi-directional service. These planned system improvements respond to shifting passenger needs while bolstering economic growth for Northern Virginia and surrounding jurisdictions.

“I am honored to join VRE at such a significant moment for regional mobility. VRE plays a critical role in connecting communities and supporting economic growth across Northern and Central Virginia and the greater Washington region. I look forward to working alongside our talented staff and partners to enhance the rider experience, deliver transformative capital projects, and build VRE into the first choice for regional transportation in Northern and Central Virginia.” - Katie Choe

FINAL PRLW SESSION OF 2025

The 2025 Passenger Rail Law Workshop concludes Thursday, December 11 with a session on “Non-Federal Actors Leading the Way on Regional and Intercity Passenger Rail Development.” If you’ve not yet registered for this last webinar in the series, please visit the Commuter Rail Coalition website HERE.

RAILROADS AND CYBERSECURITY RISK MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS: PREPARING FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF TSA’S 2024 NPRM

The rail industry has become increasingly digital and interconnected, which opens the door for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities in railroad systems as well as through suppliers and vendors to the industry. Beginning after the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware incident, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) used its emergency powers to issue, without notice and comment, a series of mandatory “directives” requiring railroad and other infrastructure entities to implement various cybersecurity measures. Then on Nov. 6, 2024, TSA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to permanently codify and expand the five previous directives.

When final, the rule is expected to impact almost 300 transportation entities: 73 freight railroads that move 94% of the rail freight in the U.S., 34 rail transit and passenger railroads, including Amtrak, and certain pipeline and over-the-road bus operations.

This CLE webinar panel — made up of Will Daugherty (Norton Rose Fulbright LLP), Laura K. Kilgarriff (Kaplan Kirsch, LLP), and Nathan Salminen (Hogan Lovells) — will discuss the NPRM entitled Enhancing Surface Cyber Risk Management. The program will help those who counsel transportation entities subject to the regulations, including railroad owners, operators, and suppliers, to assess gaps between the rule’s requirements and their current cybersecurity programs so they can plan how to meet the new standards.

This CLE-eligible webinar kicks off at 1pm eastern December 9. For more information and to register, please click HERE.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Where Train Dreams Meet Reality in Texas (Bloomberg UK)

• An Ode to the Northeast Corridor, the Rail Line That Keeps Amtrak Alive (Bloomberg UK)

• So you think you can operate a commuter train. It is pretty complicated. (nj.com)

• Opinion | Don’t kill the Northstar Line — reconfigure it (Minnesota Star Tribune)

• How crews keep the aging Hudson River rail tunnels operating (New Jersey Monitor)

• 'We cannot let SEPTA fail': Gov. Shapiro to send extra $220M to help SEPTA fix Regional Rail fleet (6 ABC Action News)

• Metra asks STB to settle trackage rights dispute with Union Pacific (Trains Pro)