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A new economist’s report challenges claims that trains are more fuel efficient than trucks and questions whether hauling more freight by rail actually improves air quality.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week he expected the Obama administration and Congress would agree on a surface transportation bill that could be finalized before the end of the year.

WASHINGTON — As the Department of Transportation continues its push to reduce vehicle crashes related to distracted driving, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the agency was lending its support to a new nonprofit group modeled on other victims’ advocacy coalitions to pressure lawmakers to ban text messaging and other forms of distraction.

Arrow Trucking Co., the flatbed carrier that abruptly shut down last month, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Jan. 8, and its principal bank lender filed a lawsuit charging Arrow’s officers with fraud that the bank alleges cost it $12.5 million.

Most of the Class 8 trucks sold in the United States last year by Daimler Trucks North America and Navistar Inc. were — for the first time ever — assembled in Mexico, both companies have acknowledged.

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said he believes that a lack of good data on the effect of bigger trucks on the nation’s roadways has stalled any hope the trucking industry has of new legislation to change the current limits.

WASHINGTON — The prospects of the Senate passing controversial cap-and-trade climate legislation in 2010 appear to be very slim, a panel of Washington insiders said last week.

North American railroads ended 2009 with the largest annual percentage drop in freight traffic in six decades, but the carriers finished on a high note by topping 2008 levels for the final three weeks of last year.

The Energy Department last week announced grants totaling more than $187 million for projects to improve the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks and passenger cars, including one aimed at producing a “SuperTruck” that boosts fuel economy by 50% by 2015.

The average price of a gallon of retail diesel fuel in the United States rose 8.2 cents a gallon last week to $2.879, the highest level in 14 months, according to the Department of Energy.