High-Speed Rail
Nossaman offers high-speed rail clients the insight and experience necessary to advance and deliver their projects through the new, highly competitive federal funding opportunities enacted by Congress and implemented by the Obama administration. Nossaman offers clients exceptional intercity passenger, commuter, and freight rail experience from legal, regulatory, policy, and financial perspectives, combined with a pre-eminent national transportation infrastructure, design-build, and public-private partnership (PPP) practice.
We assist clients developing high-speed rail projects, systems, and technologies by navigating the evolving policy, regulatory, legislative, and funding landscapes to make their initiatives viable and present them in the best possible light to key public sector decision makers. We advise on strategic visioning and public funding, as well as legislative, legal, and administrative challenges, including: environmental analysis, safety assurance, railroad negotiations, structuring PPPs, procurements, and other issues.
Rail Expertise: Our high-speed rail practice draws on the experience of former federal and regional transportation officials and past Congressional committee counsel with expertise in rail. Our attorneys have advised a spectrum of rail stakeholders on rail issues, including high-speed rail. We have successfully advanced our clients' rail agendas before Congress, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and state and local agencies. We have advised on strategic policy development, public policy, and infrastructure funding matters, and counseled on rail litigation, administrative, regulatory, and legislative issues. Our rail practitioners are experienced in right-of-way acquisition and other commercial and financial issues associated with rail development..
Surface Transportation Expertise: Complementing our rail expertise, Nossaman offers leading insight into surface transportation infrastructure project development. Anticipating that high-speed rail implementation will draw upon past grant-making, administrative, and project delivery practices in other surface modes, Nossaman's deep experience with highway and transit matters offers a strong platform for addressing the unprecedented legal, and policy issues confronting high-speed rail. Our Infrastructure Practice Group includes a former Federal Highway Administration deputy chief counsel with expertise on surface transportation environmental matters, and other attorneys with decades of innovative procurement, financing, and project delivery experience.
Nossaman's high-speed rail practice also draws on our Public Policy, Environment and Land Use, Real Estate, and Eminent Domain and Valuation Practice Groups, to provide clients an integrated approach to project funding, advancement, and delivery.
In short, we understand the rail sector, the elements necessary to develop new high-speed service and systems, and how to assure project success.
REPRESENTATIVE WORK
California High Speed Rail Authority – Nossaman serves as special counsel on strategic, regulatory, and public-private partnership issues for the implementation the Authority's proposed $40 billion high speed ground transportation system. We have drafted state enabling legislation and advised on bond and financing issues, institutional arrangements, procurement plans, securing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, and utilizing federal tax credit bond provisions. Nossaman is also advising on approaches and strategies associated with federal funding and regulatory compliance issues.
Oregon Department of Transportation, Rail Division – Nossaman provides counseling on a wide array of matters related to expansion of passenger rail service options, including high speed rail, throughout the state.
Austin-San Antonio Inter-Municipal Commuter Rail District – Freight Corridor Purchase – Nossaman is serving as chief negotiator and strategist on behalf of the District to purchase an existing 110-mile main line freight corridor and is negotiating the relocation of existing through-freight traffic to a new corridor. The District is pursuing rail relocation and project funding at both the state and federal level.
US Railcar LLC – Nossaman serves as counsel to the corporate successor to the former Colorado Railcar, a manufacturer of diesel multiple unit (DMU) rail equipment and the only U.S.passenger rail equipment manufacturer.
ENSCO, Inc. – Nossaman advised a Northern Virginia technology client in its successful contract extension to provide federal rail track safety inspection technology and R&D. Nossaman provides counsel on HSIPR strategic business development and positioning, and associated policy, legislative and regulatory issues.
Maryland Mass Transit Administration – Maglev Project – Nossaman assisted the Administration with a proposed 40-mile magnetic levitation project with an estimated cost of $3.5 billion. Nossaman assisted in developing an innovative procurement strategy capturing the benefits of design-build-operate-maintain contracting and private sector financing assistance. Our role involved planning the procurement of a DBOM contract, a passenger services concession, joint development contracts and a technology transfer agreement with Transrapid International. The project was submitted to the FRA as one of several projects eligible for up to $1 billion in federal funding for a U.S. demonstration maglev project.