Feds Announce $1.24 Billion for Safety Upgrades Across America’s Rail System

The Federal Railroad Administration is distributing $1.24 billion in rail safety infrastructure projects through 91 grants across 37 states via the fiscal 2025-26 Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program.

The feds said the money will go towards eliminating unsafe highway-rail conflict points, closing at-grade crossings, and upgrading railroad traffic signals. Projects are spread from coast to coast, including:

• $46 million for the Texas Department of Transportation to support the construction of a grade-separated overpass carrying RM 2871 over the Union Pacific Railroad and Aledo Road in Fort Worth, Texas. The project will eliminate the highway-rail conflict point, improve emergency response reliability, and reduce blocked crossings.
• $6.4 million for the City of Marana, Arizona, to support a future grade separation on Tangerine Road and I-10. The funding will advance development and design concepts, including NEPA and preliminary design.
• $43 million to the City of Nampa, Idaho, to eliminate an at-grade crossing and construct a grade separation as part of the Robinson Road and Greenhurst Road Overpass Project. The project will eliminate conflicts between rail operations and roadway users at a crossing that frequently experiences blockages.
• $31.7 million to the Georgia Department of Transportation to upgrade railroad preemption interconnections with traffic signals at about 31 high-risk railroad crossings across the state.
• $72 million for the Port Authority of Kansas City to eliminate three existing at-grade crossings through a grade separation in Kansas City, Missouri. The project will improve the safety and mobility of people and goods by eliminating highway-rail crossings and decreasing the risk of accidents or delays at the existing crossings.
• $1.7 million for the County of Saint Louis in Minnesota to support the evaluation of four at-grade public roadway crossings along a Canadian National mainline corridor to develop long-term solutions such as closures, grade separations, or safety improvements.

The latest announcement follows another significant investment by FRA of $2.3 billion into 105 projects across 45 states and the District of Columbia through the Department’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program. Eligible applications for the RCE Program were evaluated on the basis of merit, including Project Readiness, Technical Merit, and Project Benefits.