Assistance program
Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements
$2.4 Billion committed in FY2019–FY2026
- Agency
- Federal Railroad Administration, Transportation, Department of
- Assistance
- Project Grants
- CFDA number
- 20.325
- What it does
- To fund projects that improve the safety, efficiency, and/or reliability of intercity passenger and freight rail systems.
- Who benefits
- (1) A State. (2) A group of States. (3) An Interstate Compact. (4) A public agency or publicly chartered authority established by 1 or more States. (5) A political subdivision of a State. (6) Amtrak or another rail carrier that provides intercity rail passenger transportation (7) A Class II railroad or Class III railroad (8) Any rail carrier or rail equipment manufacturer in partnership with at least 1 of the entities in (1) through (5). (9) The Transportation Research Board and any entity with which it contracts in the development of rail-related research, including cooperative research programs. (10) A University transportation center engaged in rail-related research.
- Who applies
- Interstate, Public nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education), Other public institution/organization, Profit organization, State (1) A State. (2) A group of States. (3) An Interstate Compact. (4) A public agency or publicly chartered authority established by 1 or more States. (5) A political subdivision of a State. (6) Amtrak or another rail carrier that provides intercity rail passenger transportation (7) A Class II railroad or Class III railroad (8) Any rail carrier or rail equipment manufacturer in partnership with at least 1 of the entities in (1) through (5). (9) The Transportation Research Board and any entity with which it contracts in the development of rail-related research, including cooperative research programs. (10) A University transportation center engaged in rail-related research. (11) A non-profit labor organization representing a class or craft of employees of rail carriers or rail carrier contractors.
- Authorized by
- Section 11301 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) (2015)
- Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58, 49 US Code 22907
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Div. K, Tit. I, Public Law 115-31
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Div. L, Tit. I, Public Law 115-141
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, Div. G, Tit. I, Public Law 116-6
- Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Div. H, Tit. I, Public Law 116-94
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Div. L, Tit. I, Public Law 116-260
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Div. L, Tit. I, Public Law 117-103
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, division L, title I, Public Law 117-328
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, division F, title I, Public Law 118-42
- 2023 and 2024 advance appropriation in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, division J, title II, Public Law 117-58 (2021)
- Program site
- https://railroads.dot.gov ↗
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments