PennDOT Accepting Grant Applications

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is accepting applications for its 2020 Rail Transportation Assistance Program and Rail Freight Assistance Program.

The latter program is designed to provide financial assistance for freight-rail infrastructure projects with the intent of preserving essential freight-rail service where economically feasible and preserving or stimulating economic development through the generation of new or expanded freight-rail service.

Also known as Capital Budget, the RTAP is available to applicants with a line item in a Capital Budget Act.

The maximum state funding for an RTAP project is 70 percent of total project costs, not to exceed the amount of the line item.

PennDOT awarded $40 million in 23019 in grants for 26 freight-rail projects.

The state is home to 65 railroads operating over 5,600 miles of track.

PennDOT to Fund 26 Rail Projects

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has approved 26 freight-rail improvement projects that it said will improve freight mobility while creating or sustaining more than 390 jobs.

PennDOT said in a news release that it will work with private rail operators and rail-served businesses to construct new rail lines and assist in maintaining and improving the state’s 5,600 miles of freight lines operated by 65 railroads.

Following are some of the funding recipients, their projects and state share of funding:

• CSX, $14.4 million, to lower tracks under nine overhead obstructions to permit routing of double-stack container and multilevel auto rack traffic to and from Port of Philadelphia;

• R. J. Corman, $3 million, to replace 25 linear miles of rail and 4,800 ties and to construct a 4,000-foot siding and two turnouts on its Cherry Tree Subdivision to support export metallurgical coal;

• SEKISUI SPI, $2.7 million, to construct two spur tracks and install unloading equipment at its manufacturing plant;

• Allegheny Valley, $2.5 million, to repair a bridge located on a route used by three railroads;

• Arcelor Mittal Plate, $2.2 million, to rehabilitate 2 miles of track, turnouts, and private crossings serving its rolling mill and electric melt shop sites;

• Buffalo & Pittsburgh, $1.9 million, to install new bridge timbers, walkways and handrails, as well as super-elevation correction involving three bridges;

• Strasburg Rail Road, $1.7 million, to construct less than 1 mile of track by extending interchange track and constructing new bulk, ladder, and lead tracks to more than double current yard capacity;

• Wheeling and Lake Erie, $1.1 million, to repair structural and drainage issues in State Tunnel to bring it into a state of good repair in Washington County;

• Union Tank Car, $1 million, to rehabilitate the transfer table pit retaining walls;

• North Shore, $813,834 to construct 1,350 ft. of track and install three turnouts to develop a multipurpose transload site;

• Pittsburgh Intermodal Terminals, $700,000, to rehabilitate approximately 1 mile of track in critical operations areas, including replacement of ties and switch timbers, new ballast and surfacing;

• Freeport Terminals, $699,999, to construct and rehabilitate less than .5 mile of track and install new transloading equipment to expand capacity at its Allegheny River barge/rail/truck transload site;

• United States Steel, $689,500, to complete various track upgrades to accommodate increased rail volume from USS’s new hot rolling mill in Braddock;

• Standard Steel LLC, $529,890, to replace a 50-foot scale to accommodate 60-foot rail cars and replace two No. 6 turnouts and 900 feet of track.

PennDOT Accepting Applications for Rail Grants

Applications are being accepted for Pennsylvania’s 2019 Rail Transportation Assistance and the Rail Freight Assistance programs.

Eligible organizations — including freight railroads, freight railroad-served shippers and economic development entities — may apply for funding through either program through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Applications will be accepted Aug. 30.

In 2018, PennDOT awarded $23 million for 27 freight-rail projects.

The state ranks first in the country in the number of operating railroads, with 65, and ranks near the top in total track mileage, with more than 5,600 miles.

PennDOT Accepting Rail Grant Applications

Applications are being accepted for the 2016 Rail Transportation Assistance Program and the 2016 Rail Freight Assistance Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

PennDOT said in a news release that during the last grant period, it awarded $36 million for 15 projects through RTAP and 16 projects through RFAP.

RTAP is a capital budget grant program funded with bonds and RFAP is underwritten through the new Multimodal Fund, created by Pennsylvania’s Act 89.

Applications are due Aug. 30. Eligible organizations that wish to apply for either program can find further information on the PennDOT website.