On Friday, December 8, 2023, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) officially announced that two types of grants have been awarded using these two programs:
[1] Corridor Identification and Development Program (Corridor ID)
- The Corridor ID Program is a comprehensive intercity passenger rail planning and development program that will help guide intercity passenger rail development throughout the country and create a pipeline of intercity passenger rail projects ready for implementation. This Program, fully supported by Indiana Representatives and Senators, was introduced to Governor Holcomb in late December 2022.
- The News Release from the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) can be found here.
- Of the numerous grant requests submitted, 69 were awarded. For Indiana, 4 grants up to $500,000 (with no match required) were awarded.
1. Chicago, Fort Wayne (last service 1990), Columbus and Pittsburgh (Midwest Connect)
2. Louisville - Indianapolis Passenger Rail Corridor (Kentucky Cardinal stopped 2003)
3. Daily Cardinal Service (now 3 times per week)
4. Indianapolis - Chicago Corridor (add frequencies, improve travel time)
- Grant details can be found here by selecting FY22 Corridor ID Program Recipients.
[2] Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program (FSP-National)
- The FSP-National Program provides funding for capital projects that reduce the state of good repair backlog, improve performance, or expand or establish new intercity passenger rail service, including privately operated intercity passenger rail service, if an eligible applicant is involved.
- Of the 67 grant requests submitted, 10 were awarded. Two (2) grants totaling up to $93,600,000 were awarded to improve and expand capacity at Chicago Union Station (CUS). This is an 80% federal match meaning 20% must be provided by Amtrak plus two Chicago organizations. Indiana will benefit by these when trips are made to & from Chicago. One FSP-National grant request for Indiana was not awarded but its requests could be included in one of the Corridor ID plans. Grant details can be found here by selecting FY22-23 FSP-National Recipients.
Creation of the Service Development Plans (SDPs) and Statements of Work (SOWs) using the funds from the Corridor ID grants are where Indiana's focus will be. The next steps from the FRA can be found here. Where past studies already exist, they well be dusted off and updated with current details.
Once the SDPs & SOWs have been completed, the resulting projects will be funded by a combination of Federal, State and other means.