‘Our new National Railroad Partnership Program will emphasize safety—our number one priority,’ Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Monday that his department is redirecting $2.4 billion in funding originally earmarked for California’s long-delayed High Speed Rail project to other intercity rail projects that require federal support.
The department announced it will be receiving funding applications for “projects that enhance safety on intercity passenger rail networks” through the National Railroad Partnership Program.
“This is the first of many Trump Infrastructure Dividends whereby recompeted federal dollars will be redirected from wasteful boondoggles to real infrastructure projects that benefit the American people,” the department said in a statement.
A total of $5 billion in federal funding is available, with $2.4 billion coming from repurposed California High Speed Rail funding.
“Our new National Railroad Partnership Program will emphasize safety—our number one priority,” Duffy said. “These targeted investments will improve the lives of rail passengers, local drivers, and pedestrians.”
The administration also said it would give priority to projects that improve the traveling experience for families by adding amenities such as nursing mothers’ rooms, expanded waiting areas, and children’s play areas at train stations.
States, public transit agencies, and national passenger railroad Amtrak are among the eligible applicants to apply for the federal funding.
Though the money is targeted toward improving passenger rail, some of it will almost certainly go to improvements on the nation’s major freight railroads because Amtrak uses their tracks for most of its long-distance routes across the country.
The funds are being directed at national passenger rail assets to “enhance safety, including grade crossing safety,” within the national rail network and to “reduce the state-of-good-repair backlog or otherwise improve performance,” the department added.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) said that railroad crossings are important to address because more than 200 people a year are killed when trains collide with vehicles or pedestrians at crossings. That has long been something the government and railroads have worked to address, but it is costly to build the bridges or underpasses that allow cars to safely bypass the tracks.
“The funding will help advance FRA’s top priority of making railroads safer. These funds will significantly enhance and strengthen grade crossing safety, along with other eligible uses related to passenger rail capacity and reliability,” FRA acting Administrator Drew Feeley said.
Applications are due by Jan. 7, 2026, on Grants.gov.
By Melanie Sun
