More Infrastructure Law Funds Awarded Nationwide

By Rail Passengers Staff

The Federal Railroad Administration today announced some $1.1 billion in projects to make dangerous rail crossings safer, while also unveiling $146 million in new grant funding that would boost not only Amtrak service but also Connecticut’s CT Rail Hartford Line and Brightline’s Florida operations.

Funds from the FRA’s Restoration & Enhancement grant program will support extending Florida Brightline train consists from five to seven cars by next year, supply enough funding for much of the first three years of newly restored Gulf Coast service, pay for six years of new café car service on Carolina’s Piedmont, cover a share of operational costs for the new Amtrak Borealis service for the next six years, and top up support for years three through six of Connecticut’s CT Rail regional service on the Hartford Line.

California’s LOSSAN corridor also gets support in this round of funding, adding three more roundtrips between Los Angeles and San Diego and effectively restoring the level service that corridor enjoyed before the COVID pandemic curtailed operations around the country.

A detailed rundown on the R&E grant selections can be found here.

The announcement comes on the same day that the U.S. DOT unveiled $1.1 billion in awards to 123 rail projects in 41 states from the Railroad Crossing Elimination grant program, the largest single investment in grade-crossing safety in the history of the FRA.

The money will build railroad overpasses and underpasses, fund safety upgrades that will save lives, and make improvements that will result in safer communities for pedestrians and motorists as well as rail workers and riders, DOT says. Building new overpasses and underpasses, in particular, will eliminate the risk of collisions between trains and roadway users and prevent blocked crossings — which delay drivers and emergency responders alike — greatly enhancing safety, mobility, and connectivity for local communities nationwide.

Combined with previous rail investments announced under the Biden-Harris Administration, FRA has now invested a historic $48.5 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law/Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act funding in more than 445 rail projects across the country and Amtrak.