Issue / Railroads
Railroads have been a vital aspect of the transportation system for nearly 200 years. Moving both passengers and freight, railroads offer high capacity and efficient transportation options. Freight railroads in the United States are mostly owned by private companies, who maintain and operate their system using wholly private revenues. Passenger systems, whether through Amtrak or various commuter railroads, require public assistance and either operate on their own track or pay to use freight railroad-own track.
House Subcommittee OK’s $71.5 Billion FY16 USDOT Budget
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisApril 30, 2015 A House appropriations subcommittee today approved a draft bill making available $71.5 billion in spending authority...
Foxx Defends DOT FY16 Budget Before Senate Appropriators
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisApril 22, 2015 U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx defended his department’s fiscal year 2016 budget request before a...
Senate Passes FY16 Budget After 16-Hour “Vote-a-Rama” Session
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisApril 2, 2015 The Senate passed its fiscal 2016 budget plan (S. Con. Res. 11) in the wee hours of Friday morning, March 27, after a...
Section-by-Section Summary of S. 808, the Senate STB Reauthorization Bill, As Reported
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisSECTION-BY-SECTION SUMMARY OF S. 808, SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2015 The bill redesignates...
Senate Committee OK’s Freight Rail Regulation; PTC Deadline Extension Bills
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisMarch 26, 2015 The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee yesterday approved two significant pieces of freight rail...
CBO Says GROW AMERICA Grows Much More Slowly Than USDOT Says
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisMarch 19, 2015 Last week, when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its re-estimate of the President’s budget request...
Supreme Court Rules Amtrak Is A Governmental, Not Private, Entity
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisMarch 11, 2015 On Monday, for the second time in two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in a railroad case. In U.S. DOT...
McConnell Substitute Changes EPW, Commerce Bill Provisions
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisJuly 22, 2015 Here are what appear to be the main changes in the EPW and Commerce portions of the bill from the time that the...
Supreme Court Examines Diesel Fuel Tax Discrimination Against Railroads
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisMarch 5, 2015 The Supreme Court ruled today that states cannot tax railroads if the state tax regime exempts certain modes of...
House Passes Bipartisan Amtrak Reform Bill
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisMarch 5, 2015 Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 749, the bipartisan passenger rail reform bill, by a wide 316...
Amtrak Requests $2 Billion For FY16 Operations, NEC Modernization
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisFebruary 26, 2015 The White House’s official budget request for Amtrak this year is part of the GROW AMERICA surface...
Highlights of Mass Transit Policy Changes in the DRIVE Act
Sep 09, 2015 | Jeff DavisJuly 22, 2015 Division B of the new McConnell substitute amendment for the DRIVE Act contains previously unseen provisions...