USDOT awards North Carolina Railroad $105.6M CRISI grant

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the North Carolina Railroad Co. (NCRR) a $105.6 million grant through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) program for its role in the Carolinian and Piedmont Passenger and Freight Improvements project, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced yesterday.

The NCRR will oversee the project improvements across the North Carolina rail system, which includes infrastructure upgrades across seven locations in the state, NCRR officials said in a statement.

“This is an extraordinary moment for North Carolina’s rail network,” said NCRR President and CEO Carl Warren. “Improved freight and passenger rail services will accommodate one of the fastest-growing regions in the country and will enable a new era of rail capacity in North Carolina."

Combined with contributions of $17.8 million from NCRR, $34 million from the North Carolina DOT and $13 million from Norfolk Southern Railway, total funding for the project is $170 million.

The upgrades will allow for additional passenger trains and significantly reduce delays for passenger and freight railroads along the critical Southeast Corridor. Construction on these upgrades is slated to begin in 2025.

Investments in the North Carolina passenger-rail corridor will allow for increased ridership and new routes, which will be necessary as ridership grows. During the first six months of 2024, over 342,000 passengers rode the NC By Train, a 20% increase in ridership from the same period in 2023.