FRA adds $2.2 billion to intercity passenger-rail grant funding

The Federal Railroad Administration yesterday announced an additional $2.2 billion in funding is being made available for the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program.

More than $4.5 billion in funding will now be available for capital projects designed to reduce the state-of-good-repair backlog, improve performance and/or expand or establish new intercity passenger-rail service, FRA officials said in a press release. The projects that qualify for funding must outside of the Northeast Corridor.

The FRA has extended the application deadline to April 21 from March 7 due to the increased funding levels. The dollar amount signifies one of the largest federal investments that will be made to expand intercity passenger-rail service in the United States in decades, FRA officials said.