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Last month, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) seeking a $14.5 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery IV (TIGER IV) grant to expand New York New Jersey Rail L.L.C.’s (NYNJ) freight-car float operation serving New York Harbor, according to an item in the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s latest “Views & News” newsletter.

The grant would help fund the rehabilitation of 65th Street Yard in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park section, and the acquisition of three new low-emission locomotives and an additional rail-car barge, which would double NYNJ’s car float capacity.

Meanwhile, the city of West Plains, Mo., applied for a $1.9 million TIGER IV grant to help fund the construction of an overpass at Independence Drive to eliminate a BNSF Railway Co. grade crossing.

The project is estimated to cost more than $3 million and the city has received commitments of $130,000 from BNSF and $100,000 from the Missouri Department of Transportation. In addition, a half-cent sales tax approved by local voters last year is expected to generate more than $1 million for the overpass.

In March, the USDOT received 703 applications seeking a total of $10.2 billion in TIGER IV grants from all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia, more than 20 times the $500 million set aside for the program. Grant awards will be announced in late June.