The latest competition for grant funding under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program opened on April 20, 2026. Applications are due on June 22, 2026 at 11:59 p.m, EDT.
The full notice is available here.
This is the last round of CRISI funding under the IIJA surface transportation package with advance appropriations, and this competition will combine funding for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, and annual appropriations from FY 25. $2,039,246,480 will be available in this cycle. Future rounds of CRISI will be at the mercy of annual appropriations in Congress, which could range anywhere between $0 and $1 billion
The agency has expressed a particular interest in traditional, core short line projects: examples cited are rail, crossties, ballast and surfacing, switches, structures. Projects that result in a demonstrable increase in speed or weight capacity are likely to be attractive. Locomotive projects remain eligible: any EPA tier internal combustion engine project should be competitive.
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. Short lines have been able to receive pre-award authority for items like professional services and procurement of materials for their projects. If you have questions about pre award authority for a specific grant or planned application, contact FRA-NOFO-Support@dot.gov.
First, read the NOFO thoroughly. Second, read the NOFO thoroughly again! It is critical that you follow all the instructions to applicants in the NOFO. Review the webinars that FRA will host. ASLRRA will be hosting FRA for a separate webinar focusing on short line applicants, so keep your eyes on our newsletter, emails and webinar page for that date. Read the CRISI FAQs on the FRA’s website. When you do your review of the NOFO, be sure to investigate the external document and regulatory references: all of these are there for a reason, because you as the applicant should be familiar with those items to prepare an eligible and competitive application. Reach out directly to the CRISI team at FRA-NOFO-Support@dot.gov to set up a meeting to discuss your application concept and have questions answered.
List of FY 23-24 Grant Recipients
Resubmitting after an Unsuccessful CRISI Application
Register Your Railroad — ASLRRA
Coordinate With Partners/Seek Advocates — ASLRRA
Prepare Foundational Documents — ASLRRA
Build and De-Risk the Project — ASLRRA
Make the Case with Transportation Analysis — ASLRRA
ASLRRA’s Member Discount Program Preferred Providers offer grant writing services.
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Eligibility Determination
It is important to verify applicant eligibility early. Verify your plan against the eligibility criteria from previous cycle NOFO Section C.1 and consult with the FRA early if there are eligibility questions.
System Registrations
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. SAM is where you will receive your Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) that identifies your entity to the federal government for the purposes of receiving funds. Setting up SAM for the first time for an entity can take a few weeks. Every entity in your application that will receive funds if you win should be registered in SAM. Your applicant entity needs to be registered in grants.gov. Even if you are already registered in both systems, it is important to verify those registrations and that you have account access at the beginning of our grant writing process.
Begin Work with Vendors Early
CRISI is not the only DOT funding program opening with a short deadline and more funds available than expected. Demand is now hitting the railroad supplier market for goods and services in support of applications and project execution for funding for multiple major grant programs in the railroad space. All of this is competing for the limited pools of experienced talent that can provide professional services. Vendors of materials, contracting services and equipment do not have infinite capacity. You should reach out promptly to the vendors you’ll need to work with to scope your project and secure cost estimates and quotes.
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.
Public Partner Requirements
If you are planning to apply through an eligible public entity or seek matching funding from a public entity, learn their process steps and timelines for those processes. If, for some reason, you must work through a public partner’s engineering and project management process, that can be a complex and slow process. If you are seeking matching funds from a public entity, understand it can take time for them to consider and respond to such a request.
Other Railroad Requirements
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 their property or operations. Projects that touch the property, right-of-way or infrastructure of another railroad, such as adding or modifying a connection to another railroad, will always require their permission, and typically formal review by their engineering department.
The fact that a Class I won’t contribute any monetary resources to the proposed CRISI grant-funded project does not eliminate the need to meet all their legal and operational coordination requirements. The FRA considers agreements with or permissions from Class I partners to be an area of potentially significant risk when they evaluate CRISI grant applications. They will look closely at applications for projects that could require such agreements or coordination.
Advocacy and Letters of Support
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. If you think you will seek a letter of support, or perhaps direct advocacy from a stakeholder, give them an early warning. While letters of support are the only thing that can be transmitted to FRA after the application submittal date, it is preferred that they be submitted as an attachment with the rest of your application.
Applicants are no longer required to provide the separate attachments of a project statement of work (SOW); a schedule; and a budget. Follow FRA’s new guidance for this cycle on integration of these elements into your project narrative. FRA has streamlined elements of the application process this cycle. Read the NOFO carefully for updated guidance on narrative contents, templates for budget and other tables, and overall organization of the project narrative and attachments.
Complete Advance Engineering and Design Tasks
Some projects require significant professional engineering and design work. Get these resources in place and their work started as early as possible. The farther you advance your engineering, the less risk associated with your project and higher readiness, which are important competitive factors in the eyes of the agency reviewers. Given the very short timeline of this cycle, you may not have enough time to carry out much significant engineering work for projects like bridge replacements or construction of brand new track. FRA has emphasized that in this cycle they will welcome traditional low-risk projects in existing operational right of way. These would include things like crosstie and rail replacement, turnout, switch and trackwork replacements, crossing surface rehabilitations, surfacing and tamping, bolt tightening, and like-for-like component replacements in structures. If you don’t think you have time to carry out meaningful preliminary engineering of a complex project, consider proposing a more basic project.
Understand Environmental Risks
Familiarize yourself early on with the FRA’s categorical exclusions (CEs) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Also try to determine early if you may require a federal permit for your project, such as from the US Army Corps of Engineers. The more potential environmental impacts of your project, the higher the risk, and also the longer it is likely to take to get to grant agreement if you are selected for an award.
Identify Any Land Rights Issues
Risk around land acquisition can be a major red flag for reviewers. It is important to determine early in the grant writing process if any land acquisition or rights to land will be required to carry out the project. Applicants should clearly explain the plan for land acquisition and try to take steps to reduce any risk associated with land acquisition needed to carry out the project. This includes initiating good faith discussions with landowners, doing title research and surveys if appropriate, and confirming zoning requirements. Past short line awardees have used legal agreements to protect their budgets against land acquisition cost risk while awaiting selection and then grant agreement.
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 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 that may be provided in attachments. Always assume that your evaluation could be heavily focused only on what is in your narrative, and strive to include the key points and figures you want to be sure are seen by all the reviewers.
FRA: Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Grant program
The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the fiscal year 2025 and 2026 Railroad Crossing Elimination Program. Applications are due June 8.
Although short lines are not directly eligible for this grant program, they can partner with eligible entities such as states, local governments and public port authorities to submit an application. Over $1.1 billion will be available for projects that improve highway-rail grade crossings. This can include building overpasses or underpasses to separate rail and car traffic, upgrading crossing safety technology, moving tracks to close a crossing or educating Americans about crossing tracks safely.
For more information about the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program, visit the program website.
