FRA awards $2.4B in CRISI grants to fund rail projects

The Federal Railroad Administration today announced the award of $2.4 billion in fiscal-year 2023-2024 grants for freight- and passenger-rail projects.

Administered through the FRA's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program, the grants reflect the broad array of rail safety and service improvements eligible under the program, such as upgrading track, replacing or rehabilitating aging bridges, expanding rail connections at ports and adding modern locomotives to fleets, FRA officials said in a press release.

CRISI is also the only federal grant program that prioritizes smaller railroads. In this round of funding, a record $1.29 billion in CRISI grants was awarded to 81 short-line projects across 36 states, according to the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA).

While the majority of CRISI grants directly improve rail infrastructure, CRISI investments are also supporting the rail workforce. 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, FRA officials said.

Selected CRISI projects in the latest round of grant funding include:

 • In Illinois, more than $157 million is awarded to the Springfield Rail Improvements Project Final Usable Segment. The funding will fund a project to consolidate the Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway corridors into one multitrack corridor through Chicago 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 also calls for construction of a Multimodal Transportation Center to better connect public transportation options such as passenger rail and local and intercity bus service;

• In Georgia, more than $26.5 million will be used for the Colonel's Island Rail Improvements Project. In partnership with the Georgia Ports Authority, the project calls for improving the Myd Harris Yard and construct a new South Side Rail Yard at the Colonel’s Island Terminal in Brunswick, creating new opportunities to move automotive shipments by rail instead of truck; and

• In Michigan, more than $67 million was awarded to Detroit RECHARGED — Realizing Environmental Changes Happening Around Railroads Generating Equitable Development — which will improve and expand the Livernois Intermodal Facility by installing 17,200 feet of track and replace diesel gantry cranes with new hybrid and fully electric gantry cranes in Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan.

Among the short-line related CRISI grants, $20 million in funding was awarded to ASLRRA to advance data collection and analysis. The project includes the development of a national short-line data survey process. By installing advanced digital on-board systems on more than 600 locomotives, the project will enable the collection and analysis of information about short-line energy usage, idling and emission data.

A complete list of FY2023-2024 CRISI funded projects can be found here.