3 Transit Systems to Get Federal Station Improvement Grants

Public transit systems in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are among the recipients of grants from the Federal Transit Administration to be used to modernize stations and improve their accessibility.

The agencies are sharing in $686 million being awarded to 15 projects. The grant funding is coming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Greater Cleveland Transit Authority will receive $8 million to rebuild its East 79^th Street rapid station to make it more accessible.

The 1920s era station will receive new ramps, concrete platforms, rail crossings, warning panels, canopy-covered concrete stairs, upgraded emergency call boxes, and slip-resistant walking surfaces.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit will receive $24.4 million to make the Bethel Village, Westfield, St. Anne’s, and Shiras stations on the Red Line ADA accessible. Station improvements will include installing a high platform for level boarding, shelters on the boarding platform, ramps, accessible signage and auditory support.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will receive $56 million to make its 11th Street subway station on the Market-Frankford Subway Line and the Chinatown, Erie, Fairmount Upper Level, Fairmount Lower Level and Snyder stations on the Broad Street Subway Line accessible.

The stations were built in the early 20^th century. Work will include installing elevators, general station upgrades, ramps, and making path of travel improvements.

FRA Taking Bids for Passenger Rail Funding

The Federal Railroad Administration said this week that it is taking applications for $2.3 billion for intercity passenger rail projects.

The grants are available for projects such as fixing track, structures, and grade crossings.

An FRA news release said funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act  “greatly expands the scope, funding and vision” of its partnership program.”

Aside from infrastructure related projects, grants are available for the development of new intercity passenger and high-speed rail services.

Eligible applicants include 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; Amtrak, acting on its own behalf or under a cooperative agreement with one or more states; a federally recognized Indian Tribe; or any combination of these entities.

The federal share of eligible projects must not exceed 80 percent of the project cost.

The remaining 20 percent must be made up of funding provided by state and local government, and/or private sector entities.

USDOT Awarded Amtrak $4.3B This Fall

Amtrak was awarded $4.3 billion this fall by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which the agency described as “unprecedented funding.”

The funds are being used to modernize Amtrak rolling stock and stations. The latter largely involves bringing Amtrak stations into compliance with access standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

USDOT said much of the funding is coming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act., which the agency said will allocate to Amtrak $22 billion over a five-year period. That legislation was approved in November 2021.

That money, USDOT said, will be used to bring 280 stations into compliance with the ADA and replace a fleet of 1,000 rail cars and locomotives.

Some of the new equipment is entering service this year and more than 525 new rail cars and locomotives will begin service by the end of the decade.

The USDOT news release said some funding will be used to work down an infrastructure maintenance backlog and to invest in modern technology systems.

USDOT OIG Outlines Challenges Agency Faces in Allocating Funding From Infrastructure Program

Three major challenges face the U.S. Department of Transportation as it implements the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the agency’s Office of Inspector General said.

In a memo to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, USDOT Inspector General Eric Soskin said the challenges will affect how DOT allocates $1.2 trillion in infrastructure projects authorized by the law approved by Congress in November 2021.

• USDOT needs to effectively identify, assess and develop plans to mitigate risks to achieving its goals, particularly the heightened risk of fraud;
• The department needs to recruit, develop and retain the necessary workforce to implement and oversee IIJA programs while also effectively coordinating with key stakeholders to overcome their immediate administrative challenges; and
• The department needs to enhance and, in some cases, establish effective and efficient processes for awarding and administering IIJA grants and overseeing grantees’ compliance with federal requirements.

The infrastructure bill authorized $660 billion in funding for new and existing federal transportation programs and is expected to be implemented through fiscal-year 2026.

The memo said that $383 billion is reserved for contract authority — specified amounts that the department can expend in each of the years covered by the law — while $184 billion is designated for USDOT program appropriations.

Rail-related objectives of the allocations include paying for 15,000 new subway cars, buses and ferries and one year for investment in 75 new “Made-in-America” locomotives and at least 73 intercity trainsets to be used by Amtrak.

FRA Seeks Comments on Rail Compacts Program

The Federal Railroad Administration last week issued a Request of Information on the new Interstate Rail Compacts Grant Program that it will administer.

The program was established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to provide funding to states for intercity rail passenger service.

In a notice published in the Federal Register, the FRA said its role in the program is to pay for “the technical and administrative functions of IRCs and support coordination and promotion activities for rail services within a region.”

The FRA said interstate rail compacts have traditionally promoted development of intercity passenger rail projects and fostered the efficient development of those projects sponsored by state departments of transportation.

“Furthermore, as investment in intercity passenger rail from state and federal governments over the past decade has created increasingly robust rail networks, a greater need has emerged for increased cooperation across state lines to coordinate intercity passenger rail services and project delivery,” the FRA notice said.

Certain regions have also expressed a desire for strong leadership to represent regional needs. The FRA notice said it is seeking public comment on how the Interstate Rail Compacts Grant Program can best support existing compacts “so they are able to take a more central role in advancing the development of intercity passenger rail service.”

By law only established compacts are eligible for financial assistance under the program, but the FRA said it is considering whether offering other types of assistance outside of the program, such as technical support, to states interested in developing compacts would be beneficial.

Comments are due by Sept. 19.

FRA Releases Criteria for Corridor Program

The Federal Railroad Administration last week published in the Federal Register its guidelines for its Corridor Identification Program.

The program was established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and allocated $1.8 billion in funding.

Eligible corridors must be less than 750 miles; an enhancement of an existing route of less than 750 miles; the restoration of service over all or portions of a route formerly operated by Amtrak; or an increase of service frequency of a long-distance intercity passenger-rail route.

By law eligible entities that may participate in the program include Amtrak, states, groups of states, entities implementing interstate compacts, regional passenger-rail authorities, regional planning organizations, political subdivisions of a state, federally recognized Indian Tribes and possibly other entities.

The FRA expects to begin soliciting proposals to participate in the program during the last quarter of this year.

The guidelines published by the FRA sets forth 14 criteria that will be used to evaluate corridors.

These include whether the route was identified as part of a regional or interregional planning study; projected ridership, revenues, capital investment, and operating funding requirements; anticipated environmental, congestion mitigation and other public benefits; projected trip times and their competitiveness with other transportation modes; anticipated positive economic and employment impacts; committed or anticipated non-federal funding for operating and capital costs; and benefits to rural communities.

Also among the criteria are whether the corridor is included in a state’s approved state rail plan; whether the corridor serves historically unserved or underserved and low-income communities or areas of persistent poverty; whether the corridor would benefit or improve connectivity with existing or planned transportation services of other modes; whether the corridor connects at least 2 of the 100 most populated metropolitan areas; whether the corridor would enhance the regional equity and geographic diversity of intercity passenger rail service; whether the corridor is or would be integrated into the national rail passenger transportation system and would create benefits for other passenger rail routes and services; and whether a passenger rail operator has expressed support for the corridor.

FRA officials said the agency will “work with the entity that submitted the proposal, the relevant states, and, as appropriate, Amtrak to prepare or update a service development plan.”

Groups Want USDOT to Use IIJA Funds to Help Ease Supply Chain Congestion Problems

Organizations representing the transportation, manufacturing and construction industries have asked U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to use funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to help untangle supply chain congestion.

They sent a letter to Buttigieg requesting that USDOT “dedicate as much as allowable by law in discretionary grants for FY 2022 to support projects that will facilitate and ease the movement of goods.”

The groups want USDOT to use $18 billion for various grant programs over the next five years.

Among the signers of the letter were the Association of American Railroads, and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.

During a Senate hearing earlier this month Buttigieg said the proposed federal year 2023 budget for USDOT includes $36.8 billion in advance appropriations provided by the infrastructure law.

Infusion of Money to Create Challenges, OIG Says

The influx of federal grant money coming to Amtrak may create opportunities but it also will create challenges for Amtrak management the passenger carrier’s Office of Inspector General said.

Most of the new funding coming to Amtrak is contained in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that Congress approved last fall.

The Amtrak OIG said the primary challenges facing Amtrak include demonstrating fiscal responsibility in managing the funds, by being transparent in spending and avoiding fraud, waste, and abuse; building and deploying a skilled workforce, including hiring more than 750 managers in 2022 to replace those that have left and for new positions related to the infrastructure funding, as well as hiring outside contractors; coordinating effectively with partners, such as state operating authories and freight railroads, as well as government at all levels; and improving program and project management, through efforts such as a focus on early planning, providing adequate personnel resources, and managerial accountability.

Amtrak needs to make safety its top priority, the OIG report said, including “making safety an overarching point of emphasis.”

The report said a review of past audits and investigations concluded Amtrak has made “significant progress” in the past decade in managing its programs, but “the sheer size of the IIJA’s funding and requirements presents a potential strain on the company’s ability to manage its current operations while concurrently planning and managing a long-term multibillion-dollar infrastructure portfolio.”

The report can be found at https://amtrakoig.gov/

NEO Transit Agencies Get FTA Grants

Local public transit officials have released information as to how much money they are receiving in Federal Transit Administration grants and for what purposes the funding will be used.

FTA recently announced the awarding of $32,639,029 to improve bus service at five Ohio transit agencies.

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority plans to use its $4 million to rehabilitate its Hayden bus maintenance facility.

Laketran in Lake County will use its $14,681,981 to expand a bus garage and add an operations and maintenance facility.

Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority will get $1,514,888 to replace older buses.

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority in Cincinnati will receive $10,134,960 to replace older buses while the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority will get $2,307,200 to upgrade its maintenance facility and replace older paratransit vehicles.

The funding is coming from the Infrastructure and Jobs Acts approved by Congress last year.

Ohio Public Transit to Get $1.3B Over 5 Years

Ohio public transit agencies are expected to share in $1.3 billion in federal funding over the next five years from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The funding is expected to be released in stages with $260 million being allocated in federal fiscal year 2022.

Of the FY2022 funding, $73.5 million will be available immediately with the remaining money released later this year.

Cleveland will receive $22 million while Akron will get $3 million.