Federal Railroad Administration announces $1.5 billion for Northeast Corridor rail projects

The Federal Railroad Administration is making nearly $1.5 billion available for projects aimed at improving rail infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor.

The funding is being made available through the FRA’s Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program (Fed-State NEC) for projects that involve repairing or replacing aging NEC infrastructure to provide faster, safer, and more reliable service for travelers and commuters.

The investment builds on more than $16.4 billion in federal-state NEC grants announced in 2023 for projects along the corridor that have begun construction. The NEC grants are a subset of a $66 million federal investment in the United States’ passenger rail network, including high-speed rail projects in California, the Southeast, the Midwest and the Gulf Coast.

The NEC is one of the busiest and most economically significant rail corridors in the world, with hundreds of thousands of daily riders in a region that represents 20% of the U.S. gross domestic product, the United States Department of Transportation said.

Projects involve replacing aging catenary structures, improving signal systems and supporting planning activities to expand Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C.

Federal-State NEC projects receiving funding this round include:

Up to $397.2 million for the Zoo to Paoli Project, Phase 1 of the Pennsylvania – Mid-Atlantic OCS Replacement Program, which involves final design and construction activities for Amtrak replace and upgrade the catenary power system on an 18-mile segment of the Amtrak-owned Keystone Line between the Zoo substation in Philadelphia and the Paoli substation in Paoli, PA. The project includes replacing the Bryn Mawr power substation, replacing overhead catenary structures, upgrading the signal power system, and installing new power transmission lines along the corridor. The catenary structures and much of the existing overhead catenary system were first installed in the 1910s. The project is expected to increase operating speeds and reduce delays along this segment of the Keystone Line.

Up to $24 million for the District of Columbia – Washington Union Station Expansion Project, which includes project development activities like design, utility, and geotechnical work, supporting Amtrak plans to expand and modernize Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C. The project will realign and improve tracks, platforms, and concourses. The project also involves construction of a new bus facility, parking garage, and train hall, and improvements to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

Up to $13 .4 million for New Jersey – County-Newark Catenary Upgrades Project, which is for project development and final design for Amtrak to replace and upgrade the catenary system along a 23-mile stretch of the Northeast Corridor between New Brunswick and Newark, NJ. The catenary pole structures along this segment of the corridor date back to the 1930s, and the overhead wire is nearly 50 years old. The system is prone to failures that routinely impact reliability. The catenary structures and wire will be comprehensively replaced, and upon completion the project is anticipated to reduce catenary-related delays by at least 80 percent on this segment of the Northeast Corridor.

Up to $2.5 million for the Connecticut – Hartford Station Relocation Project, which involves project planning lifecycle stage activities to refine the alternatives for construction of a new Hartford train station and multimodal hub with associated realignment and double tracking of 2.1 miles of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield corridor in Hartford, CT. Completing planning activities will prepare the project to proceed to later stages of development. Future construction of the project could improve intercity passenger rail service performance through increased operating speeds and reduced delays.

Photo courtesy John H Gray from Southern Maryland, USA