The Federal Railroad Administration recently opened the application period for the Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair Grant Program.
The Fiscal Year 2021 Partnership Program will provide $198 million in grant funding to repair and rehabilitate qualified intercity passenger railroad infrastructure and assets.
The program’s purpose is to fund capital projects that improve intercity passenger rail performance and reduce the state of good repair backlog. Grants are intended to benefit the Northeast Corridor and the infrastructure, equipment, and facilities outside the corridor that are publicly or Amtrak-owned or controlled.
Eligible expenses include acquiring rights-of-way, location surveying, mapping, environmental studies, designing, and engineering. Funding can be used to replace existing assets, increase capacity or provide a higher level of service with new assets and bring infrastructure into good condition.
To be considered, projects must meet specific objectives. In addition, the federal share of a project’s total cost must not exceed 80 percent. Applicants are required to fund the rest via public sector or private sector funding, or both. Applications that propose a 50 percent or less federal share of total project costs will be given preference.
The application period runs through March 7. The agency will host an informational webinar on Dec. 14.