• Per Politico: House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said last week that the committee aims to mark up the next surface transportation bill early in the new year and move it off the House floor “around [the] spring.”

  That’s a delay compared to an earlier, ambitious timeline that Graves laid out at a September U.S. Chamber of Commerce event, during which he suggested that he wanted to pass his chamber’s version of the legislation to reauthorize funding for roads, transit, and other surface transportation projects across the country by the end of 2025.

• Per Kaplan Kirsch: On November 4, 2025, the federal district court in Rhode Island issued a decision with nationwide implications for all recipients of U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grants. The district court concluded that the “immigration enforcement conditions” imposed earlier this year through DOT grant agreements are unlawful. The court vacated (i.e., invalidated) those grant conditions in all DOT grants, which goes beyond the more limited preliminary injunction the court had issued earlier this year. The decision affects all FAA, FTA, FRA, FHWA, and other DOT grants. Further appeals are possible, so grant recipients are encouraged to track this case closely and await further guidance from their agency contacts on how DOT will comply.

  Earlier this year, DOT took a series of actions to direct grant recipients to cooperate with federal authorities in the enforcement of federal law, including in particular a mandate that they cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the enforcement of federal immigration law.

Next up in the six-part PRLW series: how passenger rail can help address mobility and housing crises. Join CRC and Kaplan Kirsch LLP next Thursday to hear from Denver RTD’s Chessy Brady, NJ Transit’s Mike Heyer, and Steven Maddoux, assistant city attorney, Austin, TX.

Then, rounding out this year’s program: on December 4 panelists will address NEPA, and on December 11, strategies for advancing regional and intercity rail projects as a non-federal actor.

Find full details and register here.

CAPITAL INVESTMENT GRANTS PROGRAM: UPDATED POLICY GUIDANCE

On November 13, the Federal Transit Administration published its updated policy guidance for the Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program. This guidance, which amends the CIG Policy Guidance last updated in December 2024, incorporates a previously applied methodology that utilizes the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) designation for FTA’s evaluation of the environmental benefits of CIG projects. FTA will no longer consider the social cost of carbon analysis when rating CIG projects. The updated guidance also incorporates other feedback received in response to the August 2025 Proposed Policy Guidance public comment period.

FTA applied the updated guidance to rate projects for the CIG program’s FY2026 annual report, which is available on FTA’s website.

Learn more at the CIG Regulations and Guidance webpage.

SUMMIT ROUND-UP

Thank you to the speakers, moderators, session coordinators, and sponsors who made the 2025 Commuter Rail Summit a success. To the attendees: your enthusiasm for the program and networking brings an uncommon energy to the event each year.

And to the host agencies, VRE and MARC, who demonstrated what makes the region special and highlighted the initiatives being undertaken in Maryland and Virginia that will meet the needs of the future.

Summit attendees wishing to receive speakers’ presentations are asked to complete the survey distributed last week and leave an email address.

Finally, a selection of photos from the event, including Sunday’s golf outing to support the two student attendees, has been posted to the Summit webpage.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Four suburbs to weigh withdrawing from DART this week (5 NBC DFW)

• Mecklenburg approves new transit tax to pay for multibillion dollar regional plan (The Charlotte Observer)

• Report: Ill. Lawmakers Approve $1.5B Mass Transit Bill (Railway Age)

• Alstom announces it will hire 120 manufacturing employees at its Plattsburgh, NY, plant to meet increased demand for rail cars (Alstom)

• Tri-Rail could anchor dozens of '15-minute city' projects across South Florida (WPTV West Palm Beach)

• Commuters lost nearly 8 work days in 2024 to record-high traffic levels, report finds (Smart Cities Dive)

• Voters approve $11.7B in local ballot measures to fund public transit (Smart Cities Dive)

• CRC 2025 Champion of Commuter Rail: Kay O’Neil (Railway Age)

• Caltrain: ‘Cuts to Come’ Without External Funding (Railway Age)

• Northstar’s looming shutdown leaves cities in limbo (MPR News)

• The Railways Bill must recognise the economic role of commuter rail in big cities (Centre for Cities)

• TxDOT unveils plan to expand transit statewide by 2050 (YouTube)