Karen J. Hedlund

Karen J. Hedlund, former Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), is currently working as a consultant on transportation matters to WSP, Plenary Infrastructure and American Triple I Partners. . She works with federal, state and local transportation agencies as well as private companies to facilitate financing and development of transportation projects.

She was appointed Deputy Administrator of the FRA in November 2011, after serving as the agency’s Chief Counsel from June 2010. During her tenure, she provided leadership for the administration’s $12 billion high-speed rail grant program, including $3 billion of investments in the California High Speed Rail Project, and $3 billion in improvements to the Northeast Corridor.

Ms. Hedlund also oversaw the FRA’s Railroad Rehabilitation and Infrastructure Finance (RRIF) program, including review of loan requests to finance new privately financed passenger rail systems from Las Vegas, Nevada to California and from Miami to Orlando, Florida, as well as a loan to implement positive train control systems for Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. She was also a member of the Credit Council of the USDOT, which oversees the department’s credit programs.

At FRA, she served on the board of Moynihan Station Development Corporation in New York City, which is redeveloping the James A. Farley Post Office Building into a new rail station for Amtrak and a mixed-use development. She also served as a board member of Union Station Development Corporation in Washington, D.C., that is preparing a new Master Plan to accommodate high-speed rail on the NEC.

Ms. Hedlund previously served as Chief Counsel of the Federal Highway Administration in 2009-2010, where she directed a legal staff in the implementation of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants to all 50 states.

Before joining USDOT she was in private law practice, most recently heading the East Coast Infrastructure practice of the Nossaman law firm, where she led the legal advisory teams on alternative delivery projects such as Silver Line extension of the Washington, D.C. Metrorail system; the Port of Miami Tunnel; the T-REX light rail in Denver; the Triangle Expressway in North Carolina; and the Hudson-Bergen light rail in New Jersey.

Ms. Hedlund received a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.