The FY 2022 CRISI Grants were announced on September 25, 2023. Short lines projects did exceptionally well, representing 47 of 70 awards, and more than half of the available $1.44 billion in funding.
If you applied for a grant in the FY 2022 cycle and did not receive one, the Federal Railroad Administration is available to answer questions and to review your application. Please contact FRA-NOFO-Support@dot.gov.
Did you know? If you have received an award, in some cases you may apply for reimbursement of costs incurred between the time the award was announced and when the grant agreement is executed and funding begins. This is called Pre-Award Authority. Click here for responses to frequently asked questions from the FRA on this topic.
The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for FY23 grants is expected in December or January of 2023.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) hosted an overview on September 15, 2022 covering How To Apply and Best Practices in the areas of: Project Narrative, Statement of Work, Benefit-Cost Analysis and Environmental Readiness.
In addition, recorded webinars and presentation materials are available for each of the Office Hours hosted in 2022:
October 20, 2022 — Efficient Locomotives, Climate Initiatives and Workforce Development
October 27, 2022 — Project Narrative Best Practices
Click here to access the presentation materials and a recording of each event under “Grants and Loans”.
ASLRRA Members (when logged in) can click the titles of each of the sections below, or to the left, for additional, detailed information.
Register Your Railroad - ASLRRA
Coordinate With Partners/Seek Advocates - ASLRRA
Using FRA's Templates for Required Attachments - ASLRRA
Preparing Foundational Documents - ASLRRA
Make the Case with Transportation Analysis - ASLRRA
ASLRRA’s Member Discount Program Preferred Providers offer grant writing services.
Before pursuing funding through CRISI, the applying entity must be properly registered in two federal systems: The System for Award Management (SAM) and grants.gov. Grant applicants must first be set up in SAM to register in grants.gov and all recipients of federal funds must be registered in SAM. All application materials are submitted through grants.gov.
Some short line projects seeking federal CRISI funds will involve getting the permission of outside parties, so identifying and working on these tasks early in the grant application writing process is important.
A common scenario for short lines is when a Class I freight railroad must approve the proposed grant-funded project. Short lines should review their lease agreements closely, as leases can include clauses specific to pursuit and use of public grant funding. Short lines should also presume that Class I permission will be required if the proposed project could affect the Class I’s property or operations. The fact that a Class I won’t contribute any monetary resources to the proposed funded project does not eliminate the need to meet all legal and operational coordination requirements.
Consider finding regional advocates, such as customers, businesses, or elected officials, who could help write letters of support touting your project’s importance to FRA.
FRA guidance directs grant applicants to templates for three required attachments for their capital grant programs: the Statement of work (SOW), Schedule, and Budget.
These templates have sometimes been confusing to CRISI applicants because they are provided in the form of drafts of what will become the starting point for attachments to a formal federal grant agreement if the application is successful.
Applicants should use these templates as requested by FRA, ideally without modifying the language and structure of the documents as provided. Applicants should insert the requested data where indicated, and as indicated.
Applicants are required to provide three foundational documents as attachments: a project statement of work (SOW); a schedule; and a budget. Completing these three documents at the beginning of the grant writing process reduces the risk of inconsistent information across these three documents. Preparing documents early will also assist with the preparation of other required application elements.
Effective communication of the transportation analysis supporting a CRISI application is fundamental to making the case for the project. Most CRISI applications will have a forecast for traffic of some type, often in the form of revenue carloads transported over twenty years, sometimes more, from the expected completion of construction.
It is surprisingly easy to provide an excellent data-driven transportation and benefit-cost analysis in the application attachments but neglect to communicate that information well in the grant application narrative. The narrative document must bring forward all important data and findings, including at least summary versions of traffic forecasts and scenarios.
ASLRRA thanks Blank Rome Government Relations staff for the information provided on these pages.
FRA: Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Grant program
The FRA held several webinars, focusing on a different aspect of the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO). While these webinars were focused on RCE grants, the information discussed could be insightful for railroads planning to apply for other grants, like the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program. Click here to access the presentation materials and a recording of the event under “Grants and Loans”.
In FY 22, approximately $100 million in grants were made available to eligible entities to expand the sales and use of renewable fuels through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP).
The program includes grants of up to $5 million with cost-sharing of as much as half of all total project costs. Funding can be used to build and retrofit biofuel-related infrastructure such as pumps, dispensers and storage tanks. Eligible entities include rail fueling facilities.
Although Grant applications were due Nov. 21, 2022 for this round, helpful information to prepare for FY 23 applications can be found on the website including information about how to apply and a program fact sheet.
