# Big rush of HSIPR stimulus obligations



## afigg (Apr 9, 2011)

There appears to have been a push to sign the contracts and get a bunch of the original HSIPR stimulus selected projects obligated in the past several days. Wonder if the threat of a shutdown got the states and the FRA staffer to hurry up and get the funds released and deposited into the accounts so work could proceed in case of a shutdown.

Press release on the US DOT website, posted today: http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2011/fra0711.html

"U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced more than $300 million in obligated grants that will enable the expansion of high-speed intercity passenger rail corridors from coast-to-coast."

What were the projects:

"The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has been working collaboratively with states to move grants from “award to obligation,” ensuring high-speed intercity passenger rail projects can get underway and put American people to work. The more than $300 million invested and released to states this week includes:

California Department of Transportation – Four projects totaling more than $22 million. A $13 million grant will refurbish 15 locomotives and upgrade engines to reduce emissions. An $8.2 million investment will go for several coach cars on the San Joaquin Corridor and Capitol Corridor. $950,000 will provide for preliminary engineering and environmental work on the Pacific Surfliner to Ortega. And $200,000 will provide for planning of the Pacific Surfliner route from San Diego to Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo.

Connecticut – A $40 million investment to upgrade the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail corridor will provide for 10 miles of double track to be installed on the Amtrak-owned, New Haven-Springfield corridor. This will help to decrease delays and improve travel time and reliability for both freight and passenger service along the corridor.

Maryland/Baltimore Tunnel – For one of the largest choke points in the Northeast Corridor, $60 million will fund a preliminary engineering and environmental analysis to study the replacement and augmentation of the 100-year old B&P Tunnel on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC). This would seek to eliminate a major bottleneck in performance and reliability for the NEC.

Missouri – Three projects totaling $3.8 million. A $500,000 grant to develop Missouri’s State Rail Plan, establishing priorities that enhance passenger and freight rail services. A $1.4 million investment will improve 13 highway-rail at-grade crossings between Sedalia and Kansas City. $1.9 million will provide for preliminary engineering and environmental analysis to design and construct a second main track from Lee’s Summit to Pleasant Hill delivering faster speeds and increased reliability.

New Jersey/Portal Bridge – This 100-year-old, bridge is one of the most heavily-traveled bridges in the country. $38.5 million will provide for the final design of the new bridge to alleviate delays to Northeast Corridor passenger service, increasing capacity and improving reliability.

Washington – A $145 million investment will fund rail corridor improvements and new equipment for the Cascades route from Vancouver to Blain. This will ultimately provide more frequent and efficient passenger rail service between Portland and Vancouver, B.C.

Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority – $600,000 will provide for a study to examine the feasibility of expanding the Downeaster line with increased service frequency, higher speeds, and reduced travel times. The study will also examine expanding the proposed service extension to Brunswick, ME, as well as Auburn, ME.

New York – A $3.3 million investment will add track and rail capacity in the congested Upstate New York area for Amtrak’s Adirondack and Ethan Allen Express services near the Village of Ballston Spa.

West Virginia –$1 million will create a State rail plan to establish strategies for rail services that benefit the public and businesses, while guiding priorities for the State’s investments in rail.

To date, approximately $5.7 billion dollars has been obligated throughout the country for rail projects funded by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act and annual appropriations. President Obama’s vision is to connect 80 percent of Americans to high-speed rail within the next 25 years. This strategic investment is putting America on track towards that goal, providing rail access to new communities and improving the reliability, speed and frequency of existing lines."

Washington state now has $782 million all locked up for the Cascades corridor, so they have been doing pretty good in this.


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## jis (Apr 9, 2011)

I may be wrong about this, but I was given to understand that these are all completion of FFGA paperwork for grants that had been announced previously.


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## afigg (Apr 10, 2011)

jis said:


> I may be wrong about this, but I was given to understand that these are all completion of FFGA paperwork for grants that had been announced previously.


Yes, like I said, these are obligations of previously selected grants, all of them stimulus HSIPR funds. The $145 million for Washington state, however, is re-distributed Wisconsin and Ohio funds. Just thought it was worth noting, mainly because there was a bunch of these just ahead of the threatened government shutdown. Also, that the $60 million was just released for the B&P tunnel replacement PE shows that any funding and work to actually replace the tunnel is years away.


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## jis (Apr 10, 2011)

afigg said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> > I may be wrong about this, but I was given to understand that these are all completion of FFGA paperwork for grants that had been announced previously.
> ...


Oh yeah, but without a NEPA EIS in place and a reasonably advanced design in place there would be no hope of winning construction money in a highly competitive environment. So this is very important.

BTW, thanks for putting a consolidated list together.

On Friday at TransAction Jeff Gerlach (Amtrak NEC) presented a slide set with eye test sized fonts in a spreadsheet showing all the grant requests that have been filed for the extended NEC, i.e. NEC spine + Empire Corridor, Keystone Corridor, Springfield, Maine, and Virginia, and their respective statuses. It was quite a list. The slides will allegedly be made available in the near future through the TransAction web site.


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