CRISI Grants for Chicago Area Projects -- 10/31/24

[PaTrainFan]

Nor sure if there is an existing thread more appropriate but will start a new one for now.
Here is Amtrak's formal announcement of CRISI Grants for Chicago area rail projects, but want to draw special attention to the hefty amount dedicated to shunt enhancement devices given that is such a hot topic. Here is that text:

Grade Crossing Shunt Enhancement Safety Project (up to $58,800,000)

This project includes procurement and installation of Onboard Shunt Enhancement devices for 443 locomotives and 192 cab cars on the nationwide Amtrak-operated fleet to enhance grade crossing activation reliability. Amtrak and partner State Departments of Transportation, CN railroad, and railroad equipment supplier partners recently completed successful preliminary testing of this onboard innovative device that will improve grade crossing activations and reduce problems that have impacted train operations and fleet requirements for several years. This investment will improve service reliability and ensure continued safety protection. Amtrak, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin and 13 other state transportation departments will contribute the required local funding match.

 

[west point]

$897,705.92 per unit/ That really sounds outrageous.

 

[user535733]

It's worthwhile to take a couple minutes and read through the complete list of CRISI 2024 grant recipients from the FRA website. No need to wait for a press release or local coverage.

- Amtrak is getting funding for the Niles double-tracking project. That's part of CHIP.
- Wisconsin is getting the Muskego Yard bypass, a big step toward another CHI-MKE round trip slot
- Illinois can finally complete the Springfield rerouting.
- And, yes, shunt enhancers implemented nationwide.

Lots of good stuff in there for all over the country.

 

[ryanwc]

Dammit! The Springfield downtown renovation project disguised as an Amtrak project got funded (as did the Chgo Union Station renovations) instead of things that might help the Lincoln Service and other trains speed up and stay on time. I wish they would fund the functional part of CHIP instead of the window dressing. The shunt stuff is good, but it's not really an Illinois project, despite being aimed at locomotives running in IL. It's a get-cars-back-to-the-LDs project.

West Point, I'm not sure what you're calculating, but if the cost of the shunt mechanism per locomotive / cab, you've overestimated by a whole decimal point. It's closer to $90,000.

 

[PaTrainFan]

It's worthwhile to take a couple minutes and read through the complete list of CRISI 2024 grant recipients from the FRA website. No need to wait for a press release or local coverage.

- Amtrak is getting funding for the Niles double-tracking project. That's part of CHIP.
- Wisconsin is getting the Muskego Yard bypass, a big step toward another CHI-MKE round trip slot
- Illinois can finally complete the Springfield rerouting.
- And, yes, shunt enhancers implemented nationwide.

Lots of good stuff in there for all over the country.

Thank you for posting the link to the complete list of projects. Certainly helpful to look at the bigger picture.

 

[Steve4031]

I thought I read somewhere that there were concerns about the engine's shunt mechanisms. These concerns were alleviated. This is great for getting all those superliners off the CN line to Carbondale.

 

[John Bredin]

$897,705.92 per unit/ That really sounds outrageous.

Not disagreeing with the outrageous part, but $58.8 million divided by 635 locos and cab-cars equipped is $92,598.43 each. Still a preposterous sum for public entities to overcome the private host railroad's crossing-signal issues, but nigh-$100k per unit is literally an order of magnitude less than nearly a million a pop.

 

[UserNameRequired]

Does anyone have a picture of what these $90,000 devices look like?