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The Alaska Railroad Corp. (ARRC) will hold public meetings later this month to solicit public comments on the railroad’s proposed capital improvement projects for 2012.

The railroad has budgeted $49 million for capital improvements during the year, with an additional $68 million budgeted for two rail extension projects, ARRC officials said in a prepared statement.

About $11.76 million will come from new Federal Transit Administration grants, which require a 9 percent matching contribution from ARRC. Other federal funding will include $1.26 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency-administered grants, $1.43 million from the Federal Railroad Administration and $295,000 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A $2.7 million settlement will cover deficit trackwork repairs originally paid by federal grants. In addition, ARRC will spend about $8 million in funds generated from the sale of revenue bonds sold in 2006 and 2007. ARRC will spend another $23.5 million on internally-funded capital projects with revenue from rider, freight and real estate revenue sources.

And, the state of Alaska appropriated funds during fiscal-year 2012 to support the first phase of the Northern Rail extension as well as the Port McKenzie Rail extension project.