Rail Transportation

Railroad Disputes and Investigations

• Representing BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), since 2007, in the Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1869, Misc. No. 07-489 (PLF) (D.D.C.) as well as in the second MDL formed early in 2020 with the newly filed cases, Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation (No. II), MDL No. 2925, Misc. No. 20-00008 (BAH) (D.D.C.). In 2025, BNSF obtained complete summary judgment on all claims in both MDLs. Many plaintiffs have appealed to the DC Circuit. Our team remains deeply involved in all aspects of BNSF's defense.
• Representing CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSX) in connection with its dispute with its competitor Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NS) concerning issues related to a terminal railroad owned by both CSX and NS, the Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad (NPBL).
• Representing BNSF in connection with disputes with its competitor Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) concerning the implementation of conditions imposed by the STB on UP's merger in 1996 with Southern Pacific Transportation Company (SP) and other matters.
• Assisting BNSF on the implementation of its rights to access shippers in Lake Charles, Louisiana over a rail line owned jointly by UP and The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCS).
• Advising BNSF on its response to a UP request for the STB to revise compensation and other trackage rights conditions for BNSF's use of UP's Kern-Mojave rail line in California.
• Represented BNSF in connection with a complaint filed by Amtrak at the STB regarding on-time performance of Amtrak's Sunset Limited intercity passenger rail service, and the related investigation conducted by the STB.
• Represented BNSF in defense of an emergency service application, complaint, and petition for declaratory order filed at the STB by Navajo Transitional Energy Company, LLC (NTEC) regarding BNSF service to NTEC's mine.
• Represented transloading facility owner to recover funds fraudulently transferred from the subsidiary in order to evade a contract debt. Eddystone Rail Co. v. Bridger Logistics, LLC, 2024 WL 3090882 (E.D. Pa. June 21, 2024).
• Representing BNSF in defense of a complaint and petition for declaratory order regarding the transportation of coal to an electric utility.
• Advise railroads in preparing defense against claims of punitive damages. 
• Represented BNSF in arbitrations involving rail transportation contract disputes.
• Served as a party-appointed arbitrator in various rail disputes.

Railroad Transactions and Projects

• Advising BNSF on its participation in the regulatory approval proceeding at the STB where UP and NS will seek approval for their proposed merger, which would be the largest transaction in railroad industry history.
• Advised BNSF on its participation in the regulatory approval proceeding at the STB for the merger between Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CP) and KCS. The CP/KCS merger was the first major merger between two large Class I railroads in 20 years.
• Advised CSX on its 2022 acquisition of New England's Pan Am Railways, Inc., whose rail carrier subsidiaries comprised North America's largest Class II regional railroad. The transaction included significant participation by CSX's competitors NS and Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. (G&W). This was the first transaction classified by the STB as “significant” in 15 years.
• Advised CSX on the acquisition of a rail line owned and leased by Meridian & Bigbee Railroad (MNBR), a G&W-owned railroad in Mississippi and Alabama. CSX's acquisition alongside the acquisition by CPKC of a connecting line owned by MNBR will establish a new CSX-CPKC freight corridor for shippers that connects Mexico, Texas, and the US Southeast.
• Advised BNSF on regulatory approval of the early termination of Montana Rail Link's lease of the former BNSF main line in Montana and Idaho, and the related resumption of service by BNSF over that line.
• Advised Brookfield Asset Management, Inc. and GIC on US rail regulatory issues related to their joint take-private acquisition of G&W, a formerly-public short line railroad holding company. G&W owns 120 short line railroads with operations in North America, Europe, and Australia and has more than 16,000 miles of track.
• Advised funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (Oaktree) in the acquisition of Dow, Inc.'s rail infrastructure assets and related equipment by Watco Companies, LLC, a Kansas-based transportation company.
• Advised a leading investment firm with railroad commercial and regulatory issues associated with its successful acquisition of Pioneer Railcorp and its fifteen subsidiary freight railroads located across the country from Related Infrastructure Holdings LLC.
• Assisted BNSF, CSX, and other railroads in STB licensing proceedings regarding the acquisition, lease, operation, abandonment, or discontinuance of service over rail lines.
• Advising a mining company on regulatory issues surrounding the planned construction of a new rail line.
• Served on a team of project counsel to a New Jersey non-profit corporation working to coordinate, develop, operate, finance, manage, own or otherwise engage in activities to effectuate the rail infrastructure projects between Newark, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Station in New York City.
• Obtained STB approval for the construction of a new rail line, known as the Southwest Gulf Railroad, for Vulcan Materials Company.
• Represent high-speed passenger rail line in defending agency waiver of Buy America requirements for two of ten trainsets required for project. Alstom v. FRA, Appeal No. 25-5456 (D.C. Cir.).

Railroad Preemption and Policy

• Representing BNSF in a rulemaking proceeding regarding competitive access.
• Represented the Association of American Railroads in a proceeding regarding revenue adequacy. In this proceeding, the STB explored its methodology for determining railroad revenue adequacy, as well as the use of revenue adequacy in the revenue adequacy constraint in rate reasonableness cases.
• Advised an American intercity passenger rail company on various federal regulatory issues, including Federal Railroad Administration regulation and grant agreements.
• Counseled the Association of American Railroads regarding federal preemption issues related to regulation by the California Air Resource Board.
• Counseled BNSF regarding the application of state laws and regulations in light of the federal preemption provisions of the ICC Termination Act and the Federal Rail Safety Act.
• Represented BNSF in a rulemaking proceeding regarding railroad costing at the STB.

Railroad Appellate Cases

• Filed an amicus brief at the US Supreme Court on behalf of the Association of American Railroads regarding federal preemption of state property laws.
• Assisted the North Coast Railroad Authority in seeking US Supreme Court review of a California Supreme Court decision holding that the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA) does not preempt state environmental permitting laws when applied to a publicly-owned railroad.
• Represented short line railroad on appeal in successfully overturning agency award of benefits to employee under the Black Lung Benefits Act. Fairfield S. Co. v. Director, OWCP, 161 F.4th 791 (11th Cir. 2025).
• Represented railroad in the US Supreme Court, both at the certiorari and merits stages, on the taxability of lost wages awards in FELA actions. BNSF v. Loos, 586 US 310 (2019).
• Represent railroads in various US Courts of Appeals and state appellate courts throughout the country in a myriad of issues under the FELA, the LIA, the FRSA, and ICCTA. E.g., Jesski v. Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern R.R. Corp., 43 F.4th Cir. 861 (8th Cir. 2022).
• Represented railroad in the Supreme Court of Iowa in successfully defending trial court's dismissal of putative class action seeking billions of dollars from property damages following historic flood. Griffioen v. Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Ry. Co., 914 N.W.2d 273 (Iowa 2018).
• Advise railroad clients on whether to seek certiorari review in the US Supreme Court on issues of importance to the industry.