FRA provides more than $14 million for seven freight-rail projects

Last week, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced seven recipients of Rail Line Relocation and Improvement program grants. Proceeds will be used to relocate or improve rail lines in various communities.

The FRA awarded:

• $4 million to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to relocate Dillerville Yard;
• $4 million to Cameron County, Texas, to relocate a line in Brownsville;
• $2.8 million to the North Carolina DOT to improve rail on an Aberdeen & Rockfish Railroad line;
• $2 million to the city of Tukwila, Wash., to realign the Strander Blvd. Line;
• $967,375 to the North Carolina DOT to relocate CSX Corp.’s Greenville Yard;
• $349,680 to Schuyler County, N.Y., to relocate track in Watkins Glen; and
• $152,664 to the city of Pleasantville, N.J., to rehabilitate former Southern Railway track.

To be eligible for grant funding, a project must improve rail safety, motor vehicle traffic flow or a community’s “quality of life,” according to the FRA. Grant recipients are required to pay at least 10 percent of a project’s cost. Created by SAFETEA-LU, the Rail Line Relocation and Improvement program authorizes up to $350 million annually for fiscal years 2006 through 2009.