New Jersey DOT awards FY23 freight-rail improvement grants

New Jersey state officials yesterday announced the award of six fiscal-year 2023 Rail Freight Assistance Program grants totaling more than $27.8 million.

The grants will help support economic activity by preserving and improving the existing freight transportation system and by making freight-rail service more widely available for businesses throughout the state, New Jersey Department of Transportation officials said in a press release.

The projects receiving funding are located in six counties and include the upgrade and rehabilitation of ties, rails and switches of out-of-service and in-service railroad tracks; installing new rails; constructing a new track connection; and extension of siding.

The $27.8 million in state grants will leverage an additional $3.2 million from railroad owners and operators to bring the total freight-rail project investment to $31 million.

The grant recipients, amounts and projects are:

• New Jersey Rail Carrier LLC, $6.4 million, for its freight-rail project–phase 3;

• Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, $6 million, for the ExpressRail Southbound Connector construction–phase 1;

• Delaware and Raritan River Railroad, $5.4 million, for the F&S Connection–phase 1;

• Conrail, $5 million, for the Garden State secondary fluidity improvements–phase 1;

• Strategic Solutions LLC, $2.5 million, for the Strategic Rail Solutions expansion project–phase 1; and

• Salem County, $2.5 million, for its Salem Rail Yard rehabilitation project.