$8.2 Billion from the President’s Investing in America Agenda to Deliver Transformative Passenger Rail in America President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda – a key pillar of Bidenomics – is delivering world class-infrastructure across the country, expanding access to economic opportunity, and creating good-paying jobs. By delivering $66 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law –…
Okay for those who aren’t aware of how this program works, here is a breakdown of what’s being handed out and a very brief summary of the programs.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 creates two very broad categories for train development.
The Federal-State Partnership Grant Program, AKA the “Fed-State National” (The actual building of new stuff)
The Federal Corridor Identification and Development Program, AKA the “Corridor ID” (The looking at maybe building stuff)
The Fed-State National is getting the most money because obviously it’s going to be building new things and repairing old things. The Corridor ID won’t be building anything, per se, but will be helping the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and “others” to identify locations that could join the current network of passenger rail. The Corridor ID is only handing out $500,000 per selection so I won’t be giving amounts there.
Virginia — Transforming Rail in Virginia Phase 2 Project (Awarded $729,000,000)/~$2.6B(2029)
Total award: $8,185,997,586
Do note that for pretty much all of these projects, the awarded amount is NOT the total cost of the project. After each awarded amount, I have put / and then the current estimate for completion of the project. As example, the California high speed rail is currently estimated to cost $33 Billion. The year of TBD in parenthesis is the latest year the project is expected to be completed. The Nevada high speed rail project has a + on it’s cost because that $10.4 Billion is an initial estimate that was put into the program before the close date, the cost has increased since then.
The Corridor ID program can be divided into four sub-programs.
Purpose a new high-speed rail - brand new, solely dedicated to this purpose.
Purpose a new conventional rail - brand new to passengers, may share with freight
Use an existing route with upgrades/extensions - already serves passengers, shares with freight, some new rail
Use existing route - simple improvements to frequency, trip times, stations, or other simple characteristics
Remember that each of these is awarded $500,000 to do detail study in how to implement the program they’ve been slotted into:
New high-speed rail
Amtrak - Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor
NV DOT - Brightline “West” High-Speed Corridor
CHSRA - California High-Speed Rail Phase 1 Corridor
WA DOT - Cascadia High-Speed Ground Transportation
NC DOT - Charlotte, North Carolina, to Atlanta, Georgia, Corridor
North Central Texas Council of Government - Fort Worth to Houston High-Speed Rail Corridor
Antelope VTA - High Desert Intercity High-Speed Rail Corridor
New conventional rail
NC DOT - Asheville to Salisbury, North Carolina, Corridor
GA DOT - Atlanta to Savannah Corridor
City of Chattanooga, TN - Atlanta-Chattanooga-Nashville-Memphis Corridor
LA DOT - Baton Rouge-New Orleans Corridor
MA DOT - Boston and Albany Corridor
CA DOT - Central Coast Corridor
NC DOT - Charlotte to Kings Mountain, North Carolina, Corridor
IL DOT - Chicago to Quad Cities Service Extension Program
City of Fort Wayne, IN - Chicago, Fort Wayne, Columbus, and Pittsburgh
OH Rail Dev Commission - Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati (3C&D) Corridor
OH Rail Dev Commission - Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit Corridor
CA DOT - Coachella Valley Rail Corridor
Front Range Passenger Rail District - Colorado Front Range Corridor
VA DOT - Commonwealth Corridor
DE Transit Co. - Diamond State Line
Eau Claire County, MN - Eau Claire-Twin Cities Corridor
NC DOT - Fayetteville to Raleigh, North Carolina, Corridor
Southern Rail Commission - Gulf Coast Passenger Rail Service
TX DOT - Houston to San Antonio Corridor
Southern Rail Commission - I-20 Corridor Intercity Passenger Rail Service
NC DOT - Wilmington to Raleigh, North Carolina, Corridor
NC DOT - Winston-Salem to Raleigh, North Carolina, Corridor
Use existing routes with upgrades/extensions
Amtrak - Amtrak to Long Island
CA DOT - Capitol Corridor
Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority - Downeaster Corridor
VT VTrans - Green Mountain Corridor
MO DOT - Hannibal Extension of Existing Chicago-Quincy Corridor
KS DOT - Heartland Flyer Extension
MO DOT - Kansas City, MO, to St Joseph, MO
CA DOT - Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor
WI DOT - Milwaukee to Green Bay (Hiawatha Service Extension)
CA DOT - San Joaquin Valley Corridor
VT VTrans - Vermonter Corridor
VA DOT - Washington, D.C., to Bristol, VA, Corridor
MI DOT - Wolverine Corridor
Use existing route, simple upgrades
NY DOT - Adirondack Corridor
WA DOT - Amtrak Cascades Corridor
AK Railroad Corporation - Anchorage North & South Corridor
NC DOT - harlotte, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C., Corridor
IL DOT - Chicago to Carbondale Corridor
MI DOT - Chicago to Grand Rapids Corridor
MI DOT - Chicago to Port Huron Corridor
IL DOT - Chicago to St. Louis Higher-Speed Rail Corridor
Amtrak - Daily Cardinal Service increase
Amtrak - Daily Sunset Limited Service increase
NY DOT - Empire Corridor
CT DOT - Hartford Line Corridor
IN DOT - Indianapolis-Chicago Corridor
PA DOT - Keystone Corridor: Pittsburgh to Philadelphia
WI DOT - Milwaukee to Chicago Hiawatha Service Expansion
Total Award: 69 (noice) that I counted multiply by $500,000 = $34,500,000
Remember that the Corridor ID program is money the indicated people can use to do a required study for ultimately asking to be in the next grant of the Fed-State National. Just because these people are handed the money for the study DOES NOT MEAN that a rail project will be funded by the Fed-State National program.
Total awarded amount by the FRA as directed by the President: $8,220,497,586
Also note this excluded explicitly funding already earmarked for Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) and Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) as required by law. Things inside the RCE and CRISI are mandatory spending line items.
AZ desperately needs one going in-between Phoenix and Flagstaff. Not that a route between Phoenix and Tucson isn’t good it’s just that there is so little options for going up north right now.
I have what is basically classified as a moped because I’m cheap and gas is expensive and I can get to Tucson from Phoenix in about an hour and a half longer than driving. I can’t even go north reasonably because the state says the option for crappier vehicles is some overlong scenic route that makes going from Phoenix to Flagstaff be an extra 100+ miles.
I was a bit curious and found more details in Wikipedia. It can be difficult to really understand the impact of what can appear to be smaller changes for huge money, but the important part is ….
On the line from Hartford to Springfield improvements including more double-tracking are
expected to allow for an increase in service from 35 to 44 trains each day. Work on the project is expected to take place between August 2024 and November 2027
This line not only connect two important medium sized cities in the region but carries traffic north to Vermont
Okay for those who aren’t aware of how this program works, here is a breakdown of what’s being handed out and a very brief summary of the programs.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 creates two very broad categories for train development.
The Fed-State National is getting the most money because obviously it’s going to be building new things and repairing old things. The Corridor ID won’t be building anything, per se, but will be helping the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and “others” to identify locations that could join the current network of passenger rail. The Corridor ID is only handing out $500,000 per selection so I won’t be giving amounts there.
Fed-State National
Total award: $8,185,997,586
Do note that for pretty much all of these projects, the awarded amount is NOT the total cost of the project. After each awarded amount, I have put / and then the current estimate for completion of the project. As example, the California high speed rail is currently estimated to cost $33 Billion. The year of TBD in parenthesis is the latest year the project is expected to be completed. The Nevada high speed rail project has a + on it’s cost because that $10.4 Billion is an initial estimate that was put into the program before the close date, the cost has increased since then.
The Corridor ID program can be divided into four sub-programs.
Remember that each of these is awarded $500,000 to do detail study in how to implement the program they’ve been slotted into:
New high-speed rail
New conventional rail
(continued…)
Use existing routes with upgrades/extensions
Use existing route, simple upgrades
Total Award: 69 (noice) that I counted multiply by $500,000 = $34,500,000
Remember that the Corridor ID program is money the indicated people can use to do a required study for ultimately asking to be in the next grant of the Fed-State National. Just because these people are handed the money for the study DOES NOT MEAN that a rail project will be funded by the Fed-State National program.
Total awarded amount by the FRA as directed by the President: $8,220,497,586
Also note this excluded explicitly funding already earmarked for Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) and Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) as required by law. Things inside the RCE and CRISI are mandatory spending line items.
Thanks for the breakdown. Can’t wait to see the eventual rail improvements, I’m glad to see my home state in the list multiple times.
AZ desperately needs one going in-between Phoenix and Flagstaff. Not that a route between Phoenix and Tucson isn’t good it’s just that there is so little options for going up north right now.
I have what is basically classified as a moped because I’m cheap and gas is expensive and I can get to Tucson from Phoenix in about an hour and a half longer than driving. I can’t even go north reasonably because the state says the option for crappier vehicles is some overlong scenic route that makes going from Phoenix to Flagstaff be an extra 100+ miles.
Maybe this isn’t true with newer models but I thought mopeds had really bad fuel efficiency?
I’m basically using a 2 stroke chainsaw motor and I get around 20 miles per liter on a 40-1 oil mix
So basically ~0.32 liters per 10km, that’s nice!
No love for Connecticut.
Thanks. Missed that.
I was a bit curious and found more details in Wikipedia. It can be difficult to really understand the impact of what can appear to be smaller changes for huge money, but the important part is ….
On the line from Hartford to Springfield improvements including more double-tracking are
This line not only connect two important medium sized cities in the region but carries traffic north to Vermont
Ironic given that “Connect” is even in the name! … Unless they cut it.
I’ll see myself out…