FRA Opens Up $1B For National Network Grants

by Jim Mathews / President & CEO

The Federal Railroad Administration is making another round of grant funding available to develop new rail service off the Northeast Corridor, announcing this week a Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO, covering as much as $1 billion under the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail-National grant program.

The Fed-State Partnership was one of the most important innovations in 2021’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, setting aside significant capital to move projects forward that are in the later stages of their development lifecycle.

States, groups of states, tribes, Amtrak, or combinations of those entities can apply, and FRA is offering technical assistance to help applicants complete their proposals cleanly and quickly. They have until December 16th of this year to file their applications.

Last December FRA made its first Fed-State funding awards, committing more than $8 billion to 10 projects around the country, including the California High Speed Rail program and Brightline’s proposed Brightline West linking Southern California to Las Vegas in time for the 2028 Olympics.

“This additional funding through Fed-State National will further expand intercity passenger and high-speed rail services across the Nation,” said FRA Administrator Amit Bose in a statement this week announcing the NOFO. “This funding addresses infrastructure needs, reduces congestion, and expands access to reliable transportation options for people living in underserved regions; all while honoring FRA’s commitment to working with states, Tribes, and stakeholders to reshape America’s rail network and lay the foundation for its future.”

FRA’s Corridor ID program and the Fed-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail program, or FSP for short, were designed to work together to create a steady pipeline of rail projects, a design that last year’s awards announcements made clear. Corridor ID is meant to cover the early stages of a rail project’s life cycle, paying for things like a service development plan or preliminary engineering and environmental reviews, while Fed-State will be targeted at projects that are in final development or are ready for construction.

Earlier this year, Administrator Bose noted that in future Fed-State funding rounds projects already in the project pipeline through the Corridor ID program will get priority for Fed-State National money.

Eligible projects under the Fed-State National Program include projects that expand or establish new intercity passenger and high-speed rail service, improve the performance of existing service, and/or replace or rehabilitate rail infrastructure. Projects improving intercity passenger rail safety, reliability, performance, including any associated project planning elements—such as environmental review and final design—are all eligible for funding.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has truly changed the entire American landscape for passenger rail. With BIL money, last year FRA was able to announce more than $28 billion in grant awards to nearly 170 rail projects across the country. Including today’s announcement, the Biden-Harris Administration has now made available more than $6.4 billion this year in infrastructure law funding across multiple grant programs, including the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program, Railroad Crossing Elimination Program, and Fed-State Northeast Corridor (NEC) Program.