Biden administration announces over $368M for rail infrastructure improvements

The Biden administration on Thursday announced over $368 million in grants to improve rail infrastructure in states including Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Kansas, Florida and Michigan.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who will announce the new round of grants from Michigan on Thursday, said these funds for train improvements will create jobs, strengthen supply chains as a way to fight inflation and improve passenger rail for Americans traveling.

“We’ve got the largest and most extensive rail network in the world here in the U.S. and Americans deserve world class rail service to go with it,” he told reporters.

The new round of Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grants will provide funding for 46 projects in 32 states and the District of Columbia and is the largest round of CRISIS grants ever.

The grants will provide nearly $58 million towards building a Raleigh to Richmond rail, nearly $6.2 million in Georgia to replace about 18 miles of rail, nearly $15.7 million in Maryland to improve port of Baltimore rail capacity, and over $21.3 million to install over 4 miles of new rail in Michigan.

“This allows trains to go faster and to get goods to market safer and cheaper,” Mitch Landrieu, White House infrastructure coordinator said. He added that it will also get more people traveling by trains and off the roads, “which is good for the environment.”

This round of grants stems from previously allocated funding. For future CRISI grants, the bipartisan infrastructure law tripled funding for CRISI to $1 billion a year for the next five years.

Another grant will give nearly $4.6 million to create a railroad engineering program at Morgan State University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Baltimore. Additional grants include $8.3 million for track improvements in Florida and nearly $11 million for track improvements in Kansas.

Buttigieg will be joined by Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) for the announcement on Thursday, which follows an event on Wednesday with Michigan Gov. Whitmer (D) about investments for Michigan from the infrastructure law.