Rail Passenger Liability Cap Adjustment as Required by Section 11415 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act
This notice details the adjustment made to the rail passenger transportation liability cap as required by section 11415(b) of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) ...
Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST), Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION:
Notice.
SUMMARY:
This notice details the adjustment made to the rail passenger transportation liability cap as required by section 11415(b) of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (December 4, 2015). Pursuant to the FAST Act, the rail passenger transportation liability cap is raised from $322,864,228 to $401,900,000.
DATES:
This adjustment will go into effect September 4, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Swati Patel, Staff Director of the Federal Railroad Administration Economics Office, by email:
swati.patel@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The U.S. Department of Transportation is publishing the inflation adjusted index factors for the rail passenger transportation liability cap under 49 U.S.C. 28103(a)(2), as directed by section 11415 of the FAST Act. The index methodology ensures that the aggregate allowable awards to all rail passengers, against all defendants, for all claims, including claims for punitive damages, arising from a single accident or incident is based on current dollars and is adjusted for inflation from the $200,000,000 cap that went into effect on December 2, 1997.
The index was based on the liability cap established on December 2, 1997, and the last full month prior to the enactment of the FAST Act on December 4, 2015. The FAST Act also directs the Secretary to update the liability cap every fifth year after the date of enactment. The table below shows the Index and inflator the Federal Railroad Administration used to calculate an inflation adjusted amount of $401,900,000.
( printed page 50602)
Month
Index
(CPI-U)
Liability cap 1
December 1997
161.300
$200,000,000
November 2025 2
324.122
401,900,000
1
The liability cap = [November 2025 Index (CPI-U)/December 1997 Index (CPI-U) × December 1997 Liability Cap]. The liability cap has been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand.
2
Due to the unavailability of October 2025 data resulting from the lapse in appropriations, November 2025 data were used for this adjustment.
The adjustment of the rail passenger transportation liability cap to $401,900,000 shall be effective 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.
Use this for formal legal and research references to the published document.
91 FR 50601
Web Citation
Suggested Web Citation
Use this when citing the archival web version of the document.
“Rail Passenger Liability Cap Adjustment as Required by Section 11415 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act,” thefederalregister.org (August 5, 2026), https://thefederalregister.org/documents/2026-15847/rail-passenger-liability-cap-adjustment-as-required-by-section-11415-of-the-fixing-america-s-surface-transportation-act.