WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration introduced Monday that it has awarded greater than $1.4 billion to initiatives that enhance railway security and enhance capability, with a lot of the cash coming from the 2021 infrastructure regulation.
“These initiatives will make American rail safer, extra dependable, and extra resilient, delivering tangible advantages to dozens of communities the place railroads are positioned, and strengthening provide chains for the complete nation,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated in a press release.
The cash is funding 70 initiatives in 35 states and Washington, D.C. Railroad security has change into a key concern nationwide ever since a practice carrying hazardous chemical substances derailed and caught fireplace in East Palestine, Ohio, in February. President Joe Biden has ordered federal businesses to carry the practice’s operator Norfolk Southern accountable for the crash, however a bundle of proposed rail security reforms has stalled within the Senate the place the invoice remains to be awaiting a vote. The White Home can also be saying {that a} potential authorities shutdown due to Home Republicans would undermine railway security.
The initiatives embody monitor upgrades and bridge repairs, along with enhancing the connectivity amongst railways and making routes much less weak to excessive climate.
Among the many initiatives is $178.4 million to revive passenger service in components of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi alongside the Gulf of Mexico for the primary time since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
“It is a vital milestone, representing years of devoted efforts to reconnect our communities after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., stated in a press release. “Restoring passenger rail service will create jobs, enhance high quality of life, and provide a handy journey possibility for vacationers, contributing to our area’s financial development and vitality.”
The grant ought to make it potential to revive passenger service to the Gulf Coast after Amtrak reached an settlement with CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads final yr to clear the way in which for passenger trains to renew working on the tracks the freight railroads personal.
“We’ve been preventing to return passenger trains to the Gulf Coast because it was knocked offline by Hurricane Katrina. That 17-year journey has been stuffed with obstacles and frustration — but in addition moments of pleasure, the place native champions and nationwide advocates had been capable of come collectively across the imaginative and prescient of a extra linked Gulf Coast area,” Rail Passengers Affiliation President & CEO Jim Mathews stated.
In one of many largest different grants, the Palouse River & Coulee Metropolis Railroad in Washington state will get $72.8 million to improve the monitor and associated infrastructure to permit that rail line to deal with fashionable 286,000-pound railcars.
A challenge in Kentucky will obtain $29.5 million to make enhancements to 280 miles of monitor and different infrastructure alongside the Paducah and Louisville Railway.
And in Tennessee, $23.7 million will go to serving to improve about 42 bridges on 10 completely different short-line railroads.
