The Biden administration on Monday announced $1.4 billion in grants have been awarded for 70 freight and passenger rail projects in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Funding for the projects, awarded through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program, comes from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress.

“These projects have the power to transform communities from across the country by getting both people and goods where they need to go more quickly and conveniently, increasing community safety through track improvements and fewer highway-rail grade crossings, strengthening the resilience of our rail infrastructure to extreme weather and impacts of climate change, and cleaning up our air by reducing emission,” said White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu.

The projects, two-third of which are in rural areas, include:

• $178 million to restore passenger service between Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans
• $30 million for improvements to bridges, locomotives and tracks on a freight rail line in Kentucky
• $100 million for both freight and passenger rail improvements along the Inland Route project connecting Boston to western Massachusetts
• $11.5 million to replace three diesel locomotives with zero-exhaust trains in Maryland

In all, the funding will go toward improving nearly 1,900 miles of tracks.

“Across the country, it's fair to say that people look at America's rail system and directly say that it needs improvement,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “We are seeing far too many derailments on our freight lines. It's been over 1,000 per year for decades. And we're seeing communities that face the consequences every day of trains that are stopped at crossings for sometimes 15, 30, 60, 90 minutes at a time. And we all know that intercity passenger rail in the United States lags behind our peer countries.  

“A big reason why we face these challenges, has to do with America underinvesting in rail for more than half a century. Now, that’s changed.” 

Buttigieg said many Americans will feel the impacts of the investments. For example, one grant will result in two new Amtrak round trips and three new commuter rail round trips between Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia. Supply chains will be stronger because of fewer delays related to crumbling infrastructure, Buttigieg said. And people who live near tracks on which chemicals and hazardous materials are transported will be safer after bridges and tracks are rehabilitated, officials said.

In February, a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, releasing toxic chemicals into their air, soil and creeks in the area. Concerns about a potential explosion led to the evacuation of nearby residents.

The Biden administration said none of the grants announced Monday address the stretch of track where the accident happened because it did not receive any applications for work there. But Amit Bose, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, said Ohio is receiving $26 million total for two grants to improve short-line railroads on which hazardous materials are moved.

The round of grants also includes $26 million for workforce development programs — $8.8 million of that to Amtrak for a new apprenticeship program to train forepersons and inspectors in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.

Some of the projects funded by the grants will begin almost immediately, officials said. For example, service on the Mobile-to-New Orleans passenger line could begin next year. 

The infrastructure law allocated $66 billion overall to railroads, including $5 billion to CRISI. Monday’s announcement brings the number of rail projects advanced during the Biden administration to 120, with more funding to come, officials said.