Digest: Biden to nominate Fernandez as head of FTA

Biden to nominate Fernandez as head of Federal Transit Administration

President Joe Biden will nominate Nuria Fernandez as administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, according to a White House press release. Fernandez was appointed as the FTA’s deputy administrator and senior official on Jan. 20, allowing her to begin work at the agency while awaiting nomination and Senate confirmation for the top position. She had previously served as general manager and CEO of California’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Her 35 years in transportation also include stints as chief operation officer of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and senior vice president for design and construction at the Chicago Transit Authority.

MBTA resumes Orange Line service at site of derailment; new cars still sidelined

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority resumed operations on a section of its Orange Line rail rapid transit route on Monday, almost a month after a March 16 derailment led to rail service being replaced by shuttle buses between the Oak Grove and Sullivan Square stations. The Boston Herald reports that the MBTA repaired 3 miles of track, replaced six switches, and performed station improvement work during the rail shutdown. The agency has not yet determined the cause of the derailment, which involved new cars from Chinese-based manufacturer CRRC; those cars remain out of service for at least another three weeks. MBTA Deputy General Manager Jeff Gonneville said he hoped to be able to provide a more concrete update at the April 26 meeting of the Fiscal and Management Control Board.

French lawmakers vote to ban short flights where rail alternative exists

Lawmakers in France have moved to ban short-haul domestic airline flights on routes where passenger rail service exists for environmental reasons, the BBC reports. The move to reduce carbon emissions would end route where the same trip can be made by train in less than 2 ½ hours. The measure is less stringent than the initial proposal, which would have ended flights on routes where trips can be completed in four hours or less. Air France-KLM objected to that proposal, as did some regions of the country.