DOT makes rail grants

OREANDA-NEWS. November 03, 2015. Rail projects around the US will benefit from federal grants made this week by the US Department of Transportation (DOT), part of a \\$500mn transportation funding package.

DOT made the funding from its Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery 2015 program, known as TIGER.

The department will fund about half of a \\$24.4mn intermodal improvement project at the Port of Hueneme on the California coast. The project in Oxnard will deepen berths and extend on-dock rail facilities, extending the useful life of the wharf by up to 30 years and allowing deeper vessels into the port.

A grant of about \\$20mn will rehabilitate 380 miles of rail track through Maine to alleviate bottlenecks and improve freight service. The total cost of the project is about \\$37mn.

At the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville on the Ohio river, a \\$10mn TIGER grant will help construct a double rail loop and rail-to-barge transfer facility and a rail-siding extension that will accommodate 90-car unit trains.

DOT granted \\$15.2mn to the city of La Junta, Colorado, to rehabilitate BNSF's subdivision there that handles Amtrak's Southwest Chief passenger train. It will add 39 miles of rail and provide passenger transportation to rural communities while also improving freight service. The line has low freight traffic on it and without the grant and other upgrades the Amtrak train was likely to be rerouted away from the communities the line serves.

Other projects include \\$10mn toward a new commuter rail station serving the Metro North Railroad in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

DOT said it received 627 applications for TIGER funding, requesting 20 times the \\$500mn available.