Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, has restructured the panel's subcommittees. He has also named the subcommittee chairmen.

The new Subcommittee on Highways and Transit combines the highway and mass-transit functions of the former Subcommittee on Ground Transportation with functions relating to transportation of hazardous materials and pipeline transportation. The subcommittee's jurisdiction now includes commercial motor-carrier regulation, transportation aspects of the Clean Air Act, transport of hazardous materials, pipeline transportation, the federal highway aid program, highway safety and research, and public-transit programs. Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) has been named chairman of the Highways and Transit panel.

Young has re-established a separate Subcommittee on Railroads, which has jurisdiction over all matters concerning freight and passenger service, including Amtrak, high-speed rail systems, and labor issues such as safety, retirement, unemployment, and workers compensation. In the last session of Congress, legislative responsibility for railroads was combined with oversight of highway and mass-transit programs.

Young eliminated the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Emergency Management in favor of making the investigation function a full committee activity. Rep. Jack Quinn (R-N.Y.) has been named chairman of the railroads panel.

Legislative responsibility for programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency will now rest with the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management (formerly the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, Hazardous Materials, and Pipeline Transportation). Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) has been named chairman of that subcommittee.

Young says the responsibilities of the subcommittees on aviation, the Coast Guard and maritime transport, and water resources and the environment will remain unchanged. Those subcommittee chairs are: Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation; Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Water Resources and Environment; and Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), Aviation.