WASHINGTON — Local legislators and recipients are beginning to announce that they have been awarded Federal Railroad Administration grants for infrastructure projects. The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grants can be used for passenger projects, grade-crossing improvements, capacity projects and other rail projects. Among those announced so far:
— $21.5 million to the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis for rehab and reconstruction of the Merchants Bridge, which dates to 1980 and currently restricted to traffic on one of its two main tracks. The funds go toward a $220 million project to replace three main spans over the Mississippi River, upgrade piers, and rehabilitate the east approach.
— $17.4 million for a new CTrail Hartford Line station at Windsor Locks, Conn., which will replace a current bus-shelter style station about a mile away, as reported by the Associated Press;
— $16.8 million to the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, operating agency of Amtrak’s Downeaster, for 6 miles of double track, station improvements, and anew pedestrian bridge in Wells, Me., as reported by the Portland Press-Herald;
—$5.4 million for a grade-crossing separation project in Hattiesburg, Miss., as well as a new connection to a Norfolk Southern yard, as reported by the Hattiesburg American.
— $4 million to create grade-crossing quiet zones in Longmont, Colo., which currently has 17 crossings requiring trains to sound their horns;
— $225,000 to the Colorado Department and Transportation and Front Range Passenger Rail Commission to fund a study on possible rail service connecting Colorado Springs, Colo., to the route of the Southwest Chief.
Trains News Wire will provide information on additional grant recipients as they become available.
