CRISI Grant Funding

Our Ask:

• Fully fund the CRISI program at the $1 billion authorized discretionary appropriations level annually in FY 25 and FY 26.

• As part of the Surface Transportation Bill, maintain robust advance appropriations, and improve processes to maximize CRISI’s potential.

Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program

• In 2015 Congress created the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program to invest in projects that improve railroad safety, efficiency, and reliability for both freight rail and intercity passenger rail.
   
• CRISI has allowed short lines to invest in hundreds of transformational projects which would not otherwise be possible. Short lines can directly apply for CRISI grants, enabling them to focus on short line sized projects like tie replacement which would likely not be viable in larger, multi-applicant programs like BUILD and INFRA with higher profile projects.
   
• Every dollar invested in improving rail infrastructure is a dollar invested in rail safety. For short lines, the biggest causes of derailments are simply worn-out track (i.e., broken rail) and rotten ties (i.e., wide gauge). The best way to address that is simply to invest in the track, which is exactly what CRISI funds do, making rail transportation safer for short line employees and for the communities they serve.

Since the program was enacted, some 240 CRISI grants have been awarded that benefit short lines, totaling over $2.7 billion. In the most recent round of CRISI awards, short lines garnered 81 of the 122 projects awarded totaling $1.29 billion, about half of the $2.48 billion in total awarded funds.

Current funding levels are $1 billion per year, guaranteed through advance appropriations through FY26, plus up to $1 billion per year possible through discretionary appropriations.

Maintaining at least those funding levels in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill — both guaranteed funds and discretionary funds — is the top priority for short lines.

• The advance appropriations provided in the current surface transportation reauthorization bill created funding stability and predictability that has been particularly important for the short line community, including suppliers, contractors, and rail shippers nationwide.
   
• Short lines urge Congress to include advance appropriations or some other sort of funding guarantee for CRISI as part of a surface transportation reauthorization bill. Going back to simply authorizing funds and hoping for funds in the annual discretionary appropriations process would be a huge step backwards for short lines and CRISI and would put short line freight rail at a massive disadvantage to the competition.

CRISI has been powerful, effective, and popular on a bipartisan basis. The program however can be further improved in the following ways:

• Protect CRISI’s Ability to Bolster the Freight Rail Network — ASLRRA discourages set-asides within CRISI for passenger rail projects or expansions of the program to include major new eligible applicants such as commuter railroads. With so many challenges facing our freight supply chain, short lines need to remain viable competitors for these limited funds. While we have no opposition to passenger rail, there are other federal grant programs which provide passenger rail applicants with funding levels that dwarf CRISI.
   
• Speed — CRISI projects should move from announcement to obligation to completion faster than they currently do. For almost all short line projects, most of which are quite simple in the context of infrastructure investments, this would result in better outcomes for the public, for short lines, for communities, and for shippers with no additional risk, and would help avoid the significant cost escalation associated with delay.
   
• Increase Transparency across the Grant Lifecycle to Enable Benchmarking and Process Improvement — Congress could require that FRA file regular reports on the status of processing grants, from award notification through obligation to closeout, to the transportation authorizing and appropriating committees. This data will help stakeholders understand how long it takes the agency to move through the process for each award to achieve grant obligation and begin work. It will also create some beneficial pressure encouraging the agency to innovate to move the process faster.
   
• Improve Elements of the National Environmental Policy Act Process — Short lines are an environmentally friendly way to move goods. We encourage efforts to ensure National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements reflect this sustainable way to move freight and do not undermine it. Specifically, we believe there could be room within USDOT’s NEPA implementing regulations to expand definitions of selected categorical exclusions (CEs) without risking significant environmental impacts. Bundling of like CEs for review and approval is an effective procedure that Congress can encourage.