NNEPRA has filed two funding application grants with the Federal Railroad Administration totaling $59 million in rejected Florida rail improvement money.

The following detail was supplied by NNEPRA:

Downeaster Pan Am Track Improvement Project: This Project would make improvements on the portion of the Downeaster Corridor owned by Pan Am Railways between Portland, ME and Plaistow, NH.  The Pan Am Track Improvement Project proposes to add double track or sidings, and make curve, grade crossing and signal modifications.  These improvements will  result in a 10 minute reduction in the Downeaster’s scheduled travel time – making the Downeaster’s Portland to Boston run 2 hours and 15 minutes, will improve reliability  and will provide enough capacity to eventually add a 6th Downeaster round trip in the future.  As a result, Downeaster ridership is projected to increase by 53,000 passengers per year, and farebox revenues are projected to increase $750,000 annually.   The total Project cost is $39,035,597.  Pan Am and NNEPRA were able to provide a match of $702,800.  The FRA grant request is for $38,332,797.

 

Downeaster MBTA Track Improvement Project: This Project would add double track and replace rail in Massachusetts on the portion of the Downeaster line owned by the MBTA.  These improvements  would help improve Downeaster reliability /on-time performance and set the stage for more Downeaster frequencies.    The total Project cost is $26,027,764.  The MBTA provide a match of $5,205,423.  The FRA grant request is for $20,822,341.

The states that have applied for funds are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

The requests total $10 billion, the available funding is $2.4 billion.