Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of Transportation (DOT).
Notice of public docket.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) became law on February 17, 2009. ARRA provides $8 billion to the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) for grants for capital assistance for high speed rail corridors and intercity passenger rail service. In April 2009, in accordance with ARRA, the Secretary submitted a strategic plan
Comments must be received by June 5, 2009. FRA will consider late filed comments to the extent practicable.
You may submit comments by one of the following methods.
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Due to security procedures in effect since October 2001 regarding mail deliveries, mail received through the
Robert Kulat, Public Affairs Specialist, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building-3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20590;
President Barack Obama and Secretary Ray LaHood have voiced a commitment to further develop and refine a world-class network of high-speed passenger rail corridors and intercity passenger rail service. The President proposes to jump-start the process with the $8 billion down payment provided in ARRA. ARRA directs funds toward projects that will aid in near-term economic recovery, while laying a foundation for longer-term economic stability and competitiveness. These first steps emphasize strategic investments that will yield tangible benefits to intercity rail infrastructure, equipment, performance, and intermodal connections over the next several years, while also creating a “pipeline” of projects to enable future corridor development.
The forthcoming guidance will describe in more detail the application prerequisites for each program along with the specific criteria that will be used to evaluate applications. The scope and specificity of each project will vary, but all applications will most likely need to address planning and project development, stakeholder agreements, financial plans, and risk management plans.
As President Obama outlined in his March 20, 2009, memorandum,
FRA is committed to carrying out this requirement through clear selection criteria and evaluation procedures. In preparing the selection criteria and evaluation procedures, FRA seeks structured input from stakeholders and the public on the criteria to be used in evaluating grant applications in order to achieve a new national network of high speed intercity passenger rail corridors.