Capitol Hill Passenger Rail News Roundup: Labor Day 2026 Edition

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a continuing resolution (CR) that will keep the government operating through December 11, avoiding a government shutdown. Like the Senate-passed version of this CR, the House bill also extends the current surface transportation policy, originally set to expire on September 30, providing Congress additional time to negotiate a long-term transportation reauthorization package.

President Trump signed the bill into law on September 2.

Critically, as with the Senate-passed measure, the extension does not continue the advance appropriations for passenger rail and public transit programs authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)—something Rail Passengers Association has been fighting for with other rail industry stakeholders.

However, we are encouraged by a bipartisan effort led by members of the House Problem Solvers Caucus urging congressional leadership to restore federal surface transportation funding to FY 2026 enacted levels.

"The current House and Senate versions of a continuing resolution would cut $36 billion in transportation funding, including cutting highway funds by nearly $10 billion, airport construction by $5 billion, transit programs by $4 billion, and rail programs by $13 billion, for example,” stated the letter. “…Restoring investment levels in an FY2027 transportation appropriations bill will allow these important projects to continue without interruption. Ending federal support threatens to delay projects and create downstream impacts across the economy.”

While highways will continue to receive formula funding, regardless, these advanced appropriations are critical to continuing to advance the pipeline of transit and passenger rail projects created by the IIJA.

--

The proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger drew yet more scrutiny from Congress this week, with more than 100 Members of Congress signing onto a letter urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to thoroughly assess the merger's potential impacts on employment, safety, service quality, competition, and accountability before any approval is granted.

The letter outlined the far-reaching scope of the proposed mega-merger, before drilling down into the details of how it could impact rail workers:

The combined railroad would operate roughly 50,000 miles of track across 43 states, giving one company enormous influence over where railroad jobs are, how many workers are employed, and how rail service is provided across the country. Those decisions would shape the livelihoods of tens of thousands of railroad workers and affect small businesses, short-line railroads, passenger rail providers, shippers, and communities throughout the nation. UP and NS must explain where they expect to find savings and how they will pay off the debt incurred to finance the merger, how those plans would affect workers and communities, and what consequences would follow if they break their promises on jobs, service, and safety.

The STB’s review should pay particular attention to what the merger would mean for railroad workers’ jobs, seniority, wages, benefits, and rights under their collective bargaining agreements. Federal law and long-standing “New York Dock Protections” protect workers affected by rail mergers, and railroads should not be allowed to skirt those protections by selling off lines, transferring work to Class II or Class III carriers, or using binding arbitration indefinitely to force through changes to collective bargaining agreements outside the Railway Labor Act over unions’ objections. Workers should also not be forced to relocate hundreds or even thousands of miles at the risk of forfeiting the protections that are supposed to protect them from the consequences of a merger. The STB should hold the companies to a simple principle: workers’ rights and benefits must endure through every transaction that follows this potential merger.

The STB's review will be critical in determining whether the nation's largest-ever rail merger would strengthen or weaken the rail network's overall performance. In our own filing (currently under development), Rail Passengers is looking at the potential impacts on the passenger network, which we believe is an under-investigated facet of the proposed merger.

--

In yet another head-scratching move, the Trump administration has resumed its war on one of the nation’s most important passenger rail projects. The Justice Department appealed a federal court ruling that prohibited the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) from withholding funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project. If successful, the appeal could renege on a grant agreement between the Gateway Development Corporation and the USDOT, halt work on the desperately needed tunnels, and put thousands of construction workers out of a job.

The appeal, filed August 28, should not affect ongoing federal reimbursements or construction work while the case moves through the courts. It is estimated that the last halt in USDOT disbursements triggered hundreds of millions of dollars in delays and contract overages.

The original freeze in payments by the USDOT was nominally about the implementation of the implementation of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program. However, as we reported at the time, the decision came in the first days of last year’s government shutdown and was most likely political in nature. Our reporting was vindicated by a February 2026 revelation that President Donald Trump told Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) he would release the funds if Penn Station and Dulles Airport were renamed after him.

In June of this year, a U.S. District Court judge found that the funding freeze violated federal law. It is unclear on what legal basis the DOJ is appealing this decision. Project officials report that federal reimbursements have continued on schedule since funding was restored by court order.

The news of the appeal by the Trump administration drew sharp rebukes from leaders in New Jersey and New York.

“Thousands of workers and 200,000 daily riders are relying on the Gateway Tunnel project, and Governor Sherrill will keep fighting Trump’s illegal attempts to stop it,” said a spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

“Every time this administration has tried to stop Gateway, they’ve lost,” said a spokesman for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. “If they try again, they will lose again.”

The USDOT has not issued a statement explaining the decision to appeal.