FRA opens Northeast Corridor Partnership Program with $9 billion available

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that will make $9 billion in funding available through the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program (Partnership Program). This portion of funds will be awarded to projects that upgrade and expand passenger rail services along the Northeast Corridor (NEC).

Non-NEC funding through the Partnership Program was opened earlier in December with up to $2.3 billion available.

"Every day, hundreds of thousands of Americans rely on the Northeast Corridor, our country's busiest rail route," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "Americans deserve to have the best rail system in the world, and the investments we are announcing will serve to modernize the Northeast Corridor for generations of passengers."

The Partnership Program will support projects that improve infrastructure, equipment and facilities, including bridges, tunnels, rail stations and track. USDOT says the investment will help improve reliability and result in fewer delays for the over 200 million annual trips taken by commuters and intercity passenger riders on the Northeast Corridor.

The NEC Project Inventory, which FRA issued in November, will guide investments under the Partnership Program and promote a transparent, systematic, long-term strategy for growing the NEC. It prioritizes key projects for funding, such as the repair and modernization of major bridges and tunnels – all of which are more than a century old – including the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel in Maryland, the Walk Bridge in Connecticut and the Hudson Tunnel in New Jersey, part of the Gateway Program.

“These investments are a major step towards reversing a half-century of underinvestment in vital rail infrastructure and will result in fewer delays for millions of riders and travelers,” said FRA Administrator Amit Bose. “The expanded Partnership Program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will ensure that the Northeast Corridor thrives as the region’s economic and transportation backbone while making its services more reliable, available and accessible to even more people.”

The Northeast Corridor stretches from Washington, D.C., to Boston, Mass., and is one of the highest-volume rail lines in the world. The area it spans accounts for 20 percent of the U.S.’s GDP. The number of Americans utilizing the corridor continues to grow, approaching pre-pandemic levels, with Amtrak ridership alone more than doubling in the past 12 months to 9.2 million passengers annually.

Applications for the funding are due no later than 90 days after the publication date of the NOFO in the Federal Register, which was Dec. 27.