in effect
This is a Department of Transportation final rule (technically a “notification of conforming amendments”) from PHMSA, the pipeline and hazardous-materials safety agency, working with the Federal Railroad Administration. It updates the text of the Hazardous Materials Regulations to carry out a January 17, 2025 federal appeals court decision (Sierra Club v. DOT), which struck down a 2020 rule that had allowed liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be shipped by rail. The rule simply edits the regulations to match the court’s order and makes no independent policy choices.
The court found the 2020 “LNG by Rail Rule” violated the National Environmental Policy Act because PHMSA never prepared an environmental impact statement, so the court cancelled that rule entirely. In response, this action rolls the affected regulation sections back to the versions in effect before August 24, 2020 (sections 172.101, 172.102, 172.820, 173.319, 179.400-5, and 179.400-8) and deletes three sections that had only existed because of the 2020 rule (174.200(d), 179.400-26, and 180.515(d)). It removes the specialized “DOT-113C120W9” tank car specification from the rules, and the hazardous materials table once again lists bulk LNG (UN1972) as “Forbidden” for transport by rail tank car and by aircraft. The changes took effect immediately on June 23, 2025 rather than after the usual 30-day wait, and PHMSA is withdrawing a related recordkeeping/reporting requirement (OMB Control Number 2137-0612).
Freight railroads, LNG shippers, and tank car makers are the parties touched by this, but the document states the practical impact is minimal because the 2020 rule had already been suspended and no operators were moving LNG by rail under it. LNG can still be transported by highway, by vessel, and by rail in UN T75 portable tanks, and companies may still seek a special permit to move LNG in rail tank cars or use the DOT-113C120W9 cars for other hazardous materials where already allowed. PHMSA also points interested parties to a separate, ongoing proceeding (an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) that is gathering input on possibly transporting LNG and other cryogenic liquids by rail in the future.