The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the National Rail Partnership Programme which allocates more than USD 5 billion in funding for projects that enhance safety on intercity passenger rail networks.
The programme also includes improvements to grade crossings, which result in more than 2,000 incidents and 200 fatalities each year.
“Our National Rail Partnership Programme will emphasise safety – our number one priority. Instead of wasting dollars on Governor Newsom’s [Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California] high-speed rail boondoggle, these targeted investments will improve the lives of rail passengers, local drivers, and pedestrians,” the U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said.
The FRA is reissuing the NOFO for fiscal year 2024 and adding funding for the FY 2025 National Rail Partnership Programme. The FY 2024 NOFO was originally published last September as the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Programme, and the reissued NOFO includes several important changes, including:
- The repeal of unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements as part of the Trump Administration’s push to end illegal discrimination and restore merit-based opportunity.
- Emphasising grade crossing safety projects within the programme, which is a major shift from the Biden-Harris Administration’s wasteful spending to benefit only a sliver of the population.
- Supporting projects that align with the Administration’s focus on the American family and ensuring a more seamless travel experience, such as adding mothers’ rooms, expanding waiting areas, adding new family restrooms, creating children’s play areas, and other projects improving overall travel for families in U.S. intercity passenger rail stations.
The programme provides a federal funding opportunity to improve American passenger rail assets by funding projects that enhance safety, including grade crossing safety, or that reduce the state-of-good-repair backlog or otherwise improve performance.
Eligible National Rail Partnership Programme applicants include among others, a State, a group of States, an Interstate Compact, a public agency or publicly chartered authority established by one or more States, a political subdivision of a State, as well as Amtrak, acting on its own behalf or under a cooperative agreement with one or more States.
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