U.S. Reps. McAdams, Curtis introduce bill to broaden FAST Act grant criteria

Federal lawmakers from Utah earlier this month introduced a bill that, if passed, would allow the Utah Transit Authority’s (UTA) FrontRunner commuter-rail service to compete for millions of federal capital dollars distributed annually to fund rail updates.

The Transit Revitalization And Infrastructure Needs (TRAIN) Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams (D-Utah) and U.S. Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), would broaden the Core Capacity Improvements grant criteria under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. 

This bill would allow UTA to compete for funds within the existing $2.3 billion grant program, which is dedicated to rail capital investments and not currently available to the authority, UTA Chairman Carlton Christensen said during a press conference posted to McAdams Facebook page.

Should grant funding be obtained, UTA would use the funding to construct more double tracking on the FrontRunner route to increase commuter-rail capacity, as well as replace diesel engines with lighter electric engines, McAdams said during a press conference.

Double tracking does not currently meet the criteria of the federal grants, which are limited to new starts or for systems considered overcapacity, according to a local news report.

The FAST Act is up for renewal this year. To read more about the FAST Act reauthorization, click here.