US awards Louisiana, rail commission $400,000 grant for infrastructure
BATON ROUGE — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration announced Thursday it will be awarding Louisiana an additional $400,000 in grant money to build out its passenger rail infrastructure.
The Interstate Rail Compacts Grant Program, part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help fund the Southern Rail Commission’s Rail-Ready Project’s plan to connect multiple southern cities and states via rail. The announcement also said the SRC will provide a 50% match in funding.
SRC’s project includes the long-gestating Baton Rouge to New Orleans rail service. The intercity route is also expected to be funded by the now-delayed $20 million RAISE grant and $500,000 in grant money from the Corridor Identification and Development Program.
FRA’s grant will provide funding to administration, promotion of intercity passenger rail operations, operations coordination and preparation of other competitive federal grant program applications. This will help the SRC expand its intercity passenger rail service in the Southeast region that would connect cities from San Antonio to Atlanta.