Our multidisciplinary approach seamlessly handles every aspect of complex rail infrastructure transactions. Harnessing the knowledge of lawyers across Sidley’s many practice areas, including Transportation, M&A, Tax, Environmental, and Supreme Court and Appellate, we work closely with our clients to help them achieve their rail-focused business objectives.
In connection with our high-speed rail capabilities, we have decades of experience advising parties in structuring and negotiating mergers and acquisitions, short-line sales, joint facilities transactions, and corridor development projects. Sidley regularly advises railroads on their environmental obligations and represents railroads in proceedings seeking environmental approval and in federal court. We represent rail clients in U.S. federal, state, and appellate courts, and in administrative proceedings before the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and Department of Transportation (DOT).
Our rail-focused work has earned our team recognition in numerous industry publications, including the 2020 edition of Chambers USA, which describes Sidley’s Transportation practice as “esteemed” and acknowledges our lawyers for their “representation of a significant tranche of railroad industry clients across the USA.”
Representative Matters
- Texas — Texas Central Partners, in connection with the development of a proposed high-speed passenger rail line between Dallas and Houston, Texas (2016–present)
- Florida — Brightline (formerly All Aboard Florida), in connection with the development of a proposed high-speed passenger rail line between Miami and Orlando, Florida (2010–present)
- Northeast Corridor — Baltimore-Washington Railroad, in connection with the development of a proposed high-speed passenger rail line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland (2020–present)
- California to Nevada — The acquisition of DesertXpress Enterprises and the development of a proposed high-speed passenger rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada (2018–present)
