DOT Rail Grants

[Swalell1960]

Saw a crawler announcing rail project grants. Just wondering what they are…

[baralheia]

From https://railroads.dot.gov/about-fra/...inistration-1:

INVESTING IN AMERICA: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $2.4 Billion in New Rail Projects to Improve Safety, Strengthen Supply Chains and Grow America’s Freight and Passenger Rail Networks
Tuesday, October 29, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today announced more than $2.4 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for 122 rail improvement projects in 41 states and Washington, D.C. These projects will make rail safer, more reliable, and more resilient, getting goods and people where they need to be quickly with fewer disruptions, lower shipping costs and less pollution.

Administered through FRA’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program, grants being announced will benefit every region of the country, especially rural communities. Projects in this round of selections reflect the broad array of rail safety and service improvements eligible under this program, such as upgrading track, replacing or rehabilitating aging bridges, expanding rail connections at ports, adding modern locomotives to fleets, and more. The CRISI Program is also the only federal grant program prioritizing smaller, short line railroads vital to the American economy and regional supply chains.

This announcement is part of a series of investments the Biden-Harris Administration has made in nearly 300 rail projects and dozens of emerging passenger rail corridors across the country through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded FRA grant programs. This marks the most significant investment in American rail in more than 50 years.

“Today’s investments in our rail systems reflect the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to building a stronger, safer, and more resilient transportation network,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re funding rail infrastructure projects that create jobs and expand workforce development, reduce costs for consumers, and directly benefit communities across the country. Each project advances a future where our supply chains are stronger, passenger rail more accessible, and freight movement safer and more efficient.”

While the majority of CRISI grants directly improve rail infrastructure, CRISI investments are also supporting the rail workforce and investing in the hardworking Americans who will help maintain and operate the Nation’s rail networks well into the future. Federal funding will create new apprenticeship programs, expand training opportunities, establish partnerships with universities, and advance innovative research. For example, one grant awarded to the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen will help develop an effective strategy for integrating wayside hot box detectors to enhance safety and proactively address derailments caused by wheel and bearing failures.

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration and through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, FRA is investing more than ever in communities nationwide, reversing a half-century of federal underinvestment in America’s rail network and delivering the world-class rail our citizens deserve,” said FRA Administrator Amit Bose. “Today’s CRISI grants will enhance rail safety, better connect towns, cities, and ports, introduce more environmentally friendly locomotives, support the current rail workforce, and provide workforce development opportunities essential to the future of our industry and the national economy.”

Selected CRISI projects this round include:

• In Illinois, more than $157 million will be invested in the Springfield Rail Improvements Project Final Usable Segment: Phase VIb: North Grand Ave. and IIIc: Multimodal Transportation Center Project, which will consolidate the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern corridors into one multitrack corridor through the city and advance the efforts to provide a higher speed intercity passenger rail connection between St. Louis and Chicago. In addition to track improvements and new grade crossing separations, the project will also construct a Multimodal Transportation Center to better connect public transportation options such as passenger rail, local bus service, and intercity bus service.
  
• In North Carolina, more than $105.5 million will be invested in the North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) Carolinian and Piedmont Passenger and Freight Improvements Project, to improve the capacity of the NCRR’s NC-Line to meet the growing demands of both freight and passenger rail traffic. Upgrades would add over five miles of sidings, reconstruct up to 69 miles of track, eliminate one grade crossing, and improve track geometry. The project will increase on-time performance for existing Amtrak routes, allow for additional passenger trains along the growing corridor, and meet the needs of a growing manufacturing sector.
  
• In partnership with Amtrak, more than $14 million will help implement a 36-month Mechanical Craft Workforce Development Apprenticeship Training Program to build a skilled mechanical craft workforce for Amtrak to maintain its fleet of equipment. The project will improve safety and service performance by providing Amtrak job opportunities and career paths in various mechanical crafts that are essential to maintaining service and improving efficiency. The apprenticeship program is a collaboration between Amtrak and several labor unions, with programs being offered in Beech Grove, Indiana; Wilmington, Delaware; Washington, DC; New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California.
  
• In Georgia, more than $26.5 million will be invested in Colonel's Island Rail Improvements Project. The project, in partnership with the Georgia Ports Authority, will improve the Myd Harris Yard and construct a new South Side Rail Yard at the Colonel’s Island Terminal in Brunswick, GA, creating new opportunities to move automotive shipments by rail instead of truck. Specifically, for the South Side Rail Yard, the project will construct four new yard tracks, estimated at approximately 23,735 feet of track, and construct south side auto storage area and a perimeter road, as well as grade separate an existing crossing. Additionally, the project will lengthen and reconfigure tracks at the existing Myd Harris Yard to improve operational efficiency and bring rail switching activities inside the terminal and away from the adjacent neighborhood.
  
• In Arizona, more than $21.6 million will be invested in the Eastern Arizona Rail Safety, Efficiency, and Resiliency Project, which rehabilitates approximately 34 miles of track, replaces three aging timber bridges, installs two emergency crossings, cuts brush within rights-of-way, and retrofits two tank cars for firefighting. The project will address infrastructure vulnerabilities in a location with a history of wildfires.|
  
• In Michigan, more than $67 million will be invested in Detroit RECHARGED - Realizing Environmental Changes Happening Around Railroads Generating Equitable Development, which will improve and expand the Livernois Intermodal Facility by installing approximately 17,200 feet of new track and upgrading paving as well replacing diesel gantry cranes with new hybrid and fully electric gantry cranes in Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan. The project will benefit local business owners and surrounding residents by improving service performance, enhancing multimodal connections, and reducing negative environmental impacts.

In addition to deploying historic funding to modernize and upgrade rail infrastructure, USDOT and FRA have taken unprecedented actions under the Biden-Harris Administration to improve rail safety. This includes finalizing new safety regulations, conducting focused safety audits, expanding a vital safety program to include workers at Class I freight railroads, and pushing freight railroads to provide guaranteed paid sick leave to all of their workers.

The full list of Fiscal Year 2023 and 2024 CRISI project selections can be found here. Additional information on FRA’s CRISI Program is also available here.

Only two projects in Oklahoma were awarded grant money:

Oklahoma – Kiamichi Tri-State Freight Rail Improvement Project Phase 2 (Up to $56,619,066)
Kiamichi Railroad Company LLC

The proposed project was selected for Final Design and Construction and includes activities to upgrade track on the Ashdown, Hope, and Paris subdivisions of the Kiamichi Railroad in Oklahoma, as well as Arkansas and Texas. The project will replace approximately 76 miles of jointed rail with continuous welded rail and resurface and install ballast on these segments, install ten rail lubricators to reduce rail wear from contact forces, resurface 114 crossings, and install trespassing signs and barriers at ten crossings. The project aligns with the selection criteria, as it will improve the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of freight movement along these rail corridors and continue to foster economic development and business retention in rural areas across three states. Kiamichi Railroad will contribute the 30 percent non-Federal match. This project qualifies for the statutory set-aside for projects in Rural Areas.

Oklahoma – The Oklahoma Short Line Track Upgrade and Growth Project (Up to $29,495,400)
Stillwater Central Railroad, LLC

The proposed project was selected for Project Development, Final Design, and Construction and includes activities to rehabilitate ties and perform surfacing work along approximately 120 miles of track, replace ten bridges, upgrade an additional 40 bridges, and upgrade one grade crossing along a Stillwater Central Railroad and BNSF Railway corridor. The project aligns with the selection criteria by enhancing safety and improving system and service performance, as the project will address deferred maintenance, thereby imparting benefits of resiliency, efficiency, and higher operating speeds to rail customers served by Stillwater Central Railroad. Stillwater Central Railroad and Oklahoma Department of Transportation will contribute the 21 percent non-Federal match.

[Swalell1960]

Thanks! Is the SLWC piece for improvements on the Sooner Sub? That’d make it some pre-Amtrak prep, I think.

[baralheia]

Thanks! Is the SLWC piece for improvements on the Sooner Sub? That’d make it some pre-Amtrak prep, I think.

I don't think so, unfortunately. The Sooner Sub is about 97mi if memory serves. I think this is for the Lawton Sub, which goes from Wheatland (near SW 74th and Council) to Long (near Snyder)... that's about 120 miles.

[mugofbeer]

Colorado is looking at a front range passenger rail system running from Pueblo up to Ft. Collins. The DOT apparently is granting $60 million to work on improvements to the Santa Fe and BN rail lines in preparation for that passenger rail. Colorado is providing $28 million more.

I wonder how Oklahoma could land $ to improve the Santa Fe hete in prep for passenger rail?

[baralheia]

Colorado is looking at a front range passenger rail system running from Pueblo up to Ft. Collins. The DOT apparently is granting $60 million to work on improvements to the Santa Fe and BN rail lines in preparation for that passenger rail. Colorado is providing $28 million more.

I wonder how Oklahoma could land $ to improve the Santa Fe hete in prep for passenger rail?

There's definitely a big chunk of funding available for such projects thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (aka the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law). Here's the fact sheet from the Federal Railroad Administration on the impact of this law for rail programs.

We've already been awarded $500,000 in grant funding for the Heartland Flyer extension along the former Santa Fe to Newton, KS under the Corridor ID program, which is being used to finalize the project planning and project development phases. Per KDOT's Winter 2024 update on the Heartland Flyer Service Development Plan, it looks like that work is expected to be completed either late this year or early next year, at which point they can move into the final design phase before beginning construction.

As far as the Eastern Flyer project along the former Burlington Northern, I think that's going to be on hold for a while pending Congress and Amtrak's response to the FRA Long Distance Service Study. That study is recommending a new federally-supported long distance route between DFW and NYC, by way of OKC, Tulsa, and St Louis, but further study would be needed to actually develop a service development plan and enable forward momentum toward constructing and implementing service for such a route. Despite being codified into state law, I suspect there just isn't enough political will to make an OKC-Tulsa train happen on it's own without external involvement.

[mugofbeer]

IMO, projects of this type and scope should be federally funded projects.