A House subcommittee hearing on May 6 focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of federal rail grants as U.S. Department of Transportation officials grapple with thousands of awarded-but-unobligated grants.
Industry experts testified that reliable funding and faster regulatory processes are critical to infrastructure development.
“We need reliable, predictable funding to plan decades’ worth of capital improvements,” said Garrett Eucalitto, Connecticut DOT commissioner and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials president. “Fits and starts of funding make it difficult to plan and implement any project.”
Eucalitto urged lawmakers to include a dedicated rail title in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill to maintain momentum from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which provided $102 billion in federal rail funding. The current authorization expires in September 2026.
Kevin Hicks, senior vice president at Gannett Fleming Transystems, recommended standardizing grant applications and making agreements more template-based. He suggested the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) consolidate existing programs and create separate funding streams for preliminary engineering versus final design and construction.
Other witnesses included Kristin Bevil of Pinsly Railroad Company, who advocated for optimizing grant processes and improving NEPA reviews, and Matthew Dietrich of the Ohio Rail Development Commission, who proposed streamlining project delivery.
Experts agreed that environmental reviews could be expedited by eliminating duplicative requirements and establishing clearer timelines for project implementation.
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