Key Funding and Policy Victories in FY19 Budget Deal

The Fiscal Year 2019 transportation budget was passed into law five months late by Congress today averting another government shutdown. The bill includes $2.9 billion for rail and $13.4 billion for transit, along with several key policy riders that Rail Passengers and its members fought for over the past year.

"Today is a great day for our members, who fought long and hard to secure these wins on funding and the importance of passenger trains across the entire US," said Rail Passengers President Jim Mathews. "We'd particularly like to thank our Golden Spike winners in the Senate for their bipartisan work in preserving the Southwest Chief."

[Today’s victory shows just how important our work is. Rail Passengers depends on your generous donations to fight for passengers in Washington. Please give today!]

While rail funding was $218 million less than the record-setting levels in FY2018—largely due to a drop in funding targeted at Positive Train Control implementation via the CRISI grant program—the bill still provides $1.9 billion for Amtrak, equal to last year, and $670 million for rail infrastructure improvements. It also includes several key provisions that Rail Passengers members and our allies fought for, including:

• A statement from the Congress that that long-distance passenger rail is an essential part of the nation’s transportation system, specifically for rural parts of the country, and should be retained to ensure connectivity throughout the National Network;
• A requirement to invest in the capital improvements for the Southwest Chief, and a prohibition on the use of these funds to “discontinue, reduce the frequency of, suspend, or substantially alter” the route;
• The return of discounted passenger fares for U.S. military veterans;
• Bringing back station agents to any Amtrak station that had a ticket agent position eliminated in fiscal year 2018;
• Congressional direction to Amtrak to improve communication and collaboration with local partners and take into consideration the unique needs of each community, including impacts to local jobs, when making decisions related to the staffing of Amtrak stations.

The news for transit was largely positive, with the Federal Transit Agency receiving $13.4 billion. That’s a reduction of $67 million below the FY2018 enacted level—but $2.3 billion above the Trump budget request.

We’ve included the key rail and transit details of the bill below.

Federal Railroad Administration:

Operations, Safety, and Research:

• $221,698,000 for safety and operations of the FRA. Requires the FRA to submit information on railroad PTC status, enforcement plans and effects on rail service 30 days after enactment.
• $40,600,000 for rail research and development

Rail Improvement Grants:

• $400,000,000 for Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair with the Secretary allowed to withhold up to 1% for project management and make awards within 180 days of enactment.
• $255,000,000 for Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) with prioritization for railroads that are most at risk of not meeting the PTC deadline.
• $5,000,000 for Restoration and Enhancement Grants.
• $10,000,000 for Maglev Projects.

Amtrak

• $650,000,000 for the Northeast Corridor.
  • Up to $5,000,000 of NEC Grants to fund the NEC Commission expenses, and not less than $50,000,000 to bring Amtrak-served facilities and stations into compliance with ADA.
• $1,291,600,000 for the National Network.
  • Up to $2,000,000 to fund state-supported route committee and not less than 50,000,000 shall be for railroad safety technologies on state-supported routes on which PTC systems are not required.
  • Further, the conferees direct that no less than $50,000,000 shall be for capital expenses that enable continued passenger rail operation on long-distance routes where Amtrak is the sole operator and PTC systems are not required.
• The conferees do not require the GAO to submit a report on on-time performance but require the Amtrak OIG to submit a similar report.
• Section 151 expresses the sense of Congress that long distance passenger rail routes should be retained to ensure connectivity throughout the National Network.
• Special Provisions:
  • Amtrak is directed to provided discounted passenger fares to veterans.
  • The conferees also direct Amtrak to evaluate options to address “the weekday Northeast Regional Train between Washington and Boston and to submit a report within 90 days of enactment.
  • The conferees direct Amtrak to provide a station agent in each Amtrak station that had a ticket agent position eliminated in fiscal year 2018. Station agents, which include Amtrak ticket agents or caretakers, assist passengers with their intercity rail travel, provide customer service during all hours that a station is open, and perform building maintenance duties.
  • The Conferees direct Amtrak to improve communication and collaboration with local partners and take into consideration the unique needs of each community, including impacts to local jobs, when making decisions related to the staffing of Amtrak stations, and work with stakeholders to maximize the efficiency of these station agents.
• $23,274,000 for Amtrak IG.

Federal Transit Administration Provisions:

• $9,939,380,030 for Transit Formula Grants.
• $700,000,000 Transit Infrastructure Grants, of which:
• $263,000,000 is available for state of good repair grants,
• $2,552,687,000 for fixed-guideway projects, of which:
• $1,265,670,000 for new starts,
• $635,000,000 for core capacity,
• $526,500,000 for small starts,
• $100,000,000 for expedited project delivery pilot programs, and
• $25,517,000 for oversight.
• Special Provisions:
  • Secretary is directed to allow projects to enter in project development, advance projects through project development, advance projects into engineering, enter into Full Funding Grant Agreements (FFGA) for new starts or core capacity projects that have met the requirements and to enter into grant agreements for small starts.
  • $150,000,000 to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

National Infrastructure Investments

National Infrastructure Investments (formerly TIGER, now BUILD) received $900 million, with:

• Not more than 50% shall be located in a rural area with a population of less than 200,000, and

• Not more than 50% shall be for projects located in an urban or suburban area with a population of more than 200,000.