The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded $25 million in safety grants to 23 projects in 14 states and the District of Columbia.
“It is vitally important that we invest in safety as rail continues to play an increasingly larger role in this country, transporting tons of freight and millions of passengers each day,” stated U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “These grants will help address some of the improvements that are crucial to ensuring safe, reliable and efficient railroad networks.”
The Railroad Safety Infrastructure Improvement Grants fund safety improvements to railroad infrastructure, including the acquisition, improvement or rehabilitation of intermodal facilities; improvements to track, bridges, rail yards and tunnels; upgrades to railroad crossings; and the separation of railroad crossings and roads.
The FRA received 40 eligible applications requesting $67.5 million, nearly three times the $25 million that Congress provided in the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act that funds the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
FRA Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg stated, “A safe railroad network requires continuous investment and upgrades. These grants will improve safety at hundreds of railroad crossings and make important safety upgrades at stations across the country. This is an investment that is desperately needed – and I urge state DOTs to join the FRA in investing more in improving safety at crossings.”
Some of the recipients of the Fiscal Year 2016 grants were:
- California's Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - $1.06 million to install new safety measures at 10 grade crossings.
- New York State Department of Transportation - $1.34 million to add highway traffic signal preemption to seven grade crossings on Metro-North’s Harlem and Port Jervis Line, and $1.9 million to fund installing upgrades to three grade crossings.
- City of Grandview, Montana - $3.56 million to construct a dual-track overpass for the Kansas City Southern Railroad.
- Amtrak -$2.35 million to provide a new emergency egress stairway and fire suppression system in the North Hangar and Clayton Concourse in the District of Columbia.
- Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District - $2.69 million to add two platform access points at the East Chicago Train Station in East Chicago.
- Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) - $1.61 million to construct a new pedestrian underpass and two new rail bridges at SEPTA’s Lawndale Station in Philadelphia.