II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4030 

To establish an intercity passenger rail service investment grant program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 22, 2020 

Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish an intercity passenger rail service investment 

grant program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Building Rail Across 

5 Intercity Networks To Ride Around Interior of the Nation 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘BRAIN TRAIN Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM FOR HIGH2 PERFORMANCE INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL 

3 SERVICE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 261 of title 49, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘§ 26107. Intercity passenger rail service investment 

8 program 

9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) APPLICANT.—The term ‘applicant’ means 

11 Amtrak or a State, group of States, interstate com12 pact, or public agency established by 1 or more 

13 States with responsibility for providing intercity pas14 senger rail service. 

15 ‘‘(2) CAPITAL PROJECT.—The term ‘capital 

16 project’ means a project or program in a State rail 

17 plan developed under chapter 227 for— 

18 ‘‘(A) acquiring, constructing, improving, or 

19 inspecting equipment, track, and track struc20 tures, or a facility of use in or for the primary 

21 benefit of intercity passenger rail service; 

22 ‘‘(B) expenses incidental to the acquisition 

23 or construction (including designing, engineer24 ing, location surveying, mapping, environmental 

25 studies, and acquiring active or out of service 

26 rights-of-way); and 


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1 ‘‘(C) payments for the capital portions of 

2 rail trackage rights agreements, highway-rail 

3 grade crossing improvements related to intercity 

4 passenger rail service, mitigating environmental 

5 impacts, communication and signalization im6 provements, relocation assistance, acquiring re7 placement housing sites, and acquiring, con8 structing, relocating, and rehabilitating replace9 ment housing. 

10 ‘‘(3) HIGH-PERFORMANCE RAIL.—The term 

11 ‘high-performance rail’ means intercity passenger 

12 rail service that is designed to meet the current and 

13 future market demand for the transportation of peo14 ple, in terms of capacity, travel times, reliability, and 

15 efficiency. 

16 ‘‘(4) INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE.— 

17 The term ‘intercity passenger rail service’ has the 

18 meaning given the term ‘intercity rail passenger 

19 transportation’ in section 24102. 

20 ‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

21 the Secretary of Transportation. 

22 ‘‘(6) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means any of 

23 the 50 States or the District of Columbia. 

24 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab2 lish an intercity passenger rail service investment 

3 program to promote high-performance rail transpor4 tation options. 

5 ‘‘(2) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary 

6 may award grants under this section to an applicant 

7 to finance capital projects for high-performance rail, 

8 including grants awarded in installments for projects 

9 lasting longer than 1 year. 

10 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—Each applicant seeking a grant 

11 under this section shall submit an application to the Sec12 retary in such form and containing such information as 

13 the Secretary shall reasonably require. 

14 ‘‘(d) COMPETITIVE GRANT SELECTION AND CRI15 TERIA FOR GRANTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) establish criteria for selecting among 

18 capital projects that meet the criteria specified 

19 in paragraph (2); 

20 ‘‘(B) conduct a national solicitation for ap21 plications; and 

22 ‘‘(C) award grants on a competitive basis. 

23 ‘‘(2) GRANT CRITERIA.—In selecting the recipi24 ents of intercity passenger rail grants under sub25 section (b)(2), the Secretary shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) require— 

2 ‘‘(i) the project to be part of a State 

3 rail plan developed under chapter 227, or 

4 under the plan required under section 211 

5 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Im6 provement Act of 2008 (49 U.S.C. 24902 

7 note); 

8 ‘‘(ii) the applicant or recipient to have 

9 the legal, financial, and technical capacity 

10 to carry out the project, satisfactory con11 tinuing control over the use of the equip12 ment or facilities, and the capability and 

13 willingness to maintain the equipment or 

14 facilities; 

15 ‘‘(iii) the project to be based on the 

16 results of preliminary engineering studies 

17 or other planning; 

18 ‘‘(iv) the applicant to provide suffi19 cient information upon which the Secretary 

20 can make the findings required under this 

21 subsection; 

22 ‘‘(v) if an applicant has selected the 

23 proposed operator of its service, the appli24 cant to provide written justification to the 

25 Secretary showing why the proposed operVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:25 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4030.IS S4030

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1 ator is the best, taking into account costs 

2 and other factors; 

3 ‘‘(vi) each proposed project to meet all 

4 safety and security requirements that are 

5 applicable to the project under law; and 

6 ‘‘(vii) each project to be compatible 

7 with, and operated in conformance with— 

8 ‘‘(I) plans developed pursuant to 

9 the requirements of section 135 of 

10 title 23; and 

11 ‘‘(II) the national rail plan (if 

12 available); 

13 ‘‘(B) select high-performance rail 

14 projects— 

15 ‘‘(i) that are anticipated to result in 

16 significant improvements to intercity rail 

17 passenger service, including consideration 

18 of the project’s— 

19 ‘‘(I) levels of estimated ridership, 

20 increased on-time performance, re21 duced trip time, or additional service 

22 frequency to meet anticipated or exist23 ing demand; 

24 ‘‘(II) anticipated provision of 

25 intercity passenger rail service in hisVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:25 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4030.IS S4030

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1 torically and persistently unconnected 

2 and under-connected regions; and 

3 ‘‘(III) anticipated favorable im4 pact on air or highway traffic conges5 tion, capacity, or safety; 

6 ‘‘(ii) for which there is a high degree 

7 of confidence that the proposed project is 

8 feasible and will result in the anticipated 

9 benefits, as indicated by— 

10 ‘‘(I) the project’s 

11 precommencement compliance with 

12 environmental protection require13 ments; 

14 ‘‘(II) the readiness of the project 

15 to be commenced; and 

16 ‘‘(III) other relevant factors de17 termined by the Secretary; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) for which the level of the antici19 pated benefits compares favorably to the 

20 amount of Federal funding requested 

21 under this section; and 

22 ‘‘(C) give greater consideration to projects 

23 that— 

24 ‘‘(i) are anticipated to result in bene25 fits to other modes of transportation and 


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1 to the public at large, including consider2 ation of the project’s— 

3 ‘‘(I) encouragement of intermodal 

4 connectivity through provision of di5 rect connections between train and 

6 transit stations, airports, bus termi7 nals, subway stations, ferry ports, and 

8 other modes of transportation; 

9 ‘‘(II) anticipated improvement of 

10 conventional intercity passenger, 

11 freight, or commuter rail operations; 

12 ‘‘(III) use of positive train con13 trol technologies; 

14 ‘‘(IV) environmental benefits, in15 cluding projects that involve the pur16 chase of environmentally sensitive, 

17 fuel-efficient or electrified, and cost18 effective passenger rail equipment; 

19 ‘‘(V) anticipated reduction of 

20 greenhouse gas emissions; 

21 ‘‘(VI) anticipated improvement of 

22 air quality and public health; 

23 ‘‘(VII) anticipated positive eco24 nomic and employment impacts, in25 cluding development in the areas near 


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1 passenger stations, historic districts, 

2 or other opportunity zones; 

3 ‘‘(VIII) encouragement of State 

4 and private contributions toward sta5 tion development, energy and environ6 mental efficiency, and economic bene7 fits; and 

8 ‘‘(IX) provision of enhanced ac9 cess for persons with disabilities to 

10 intercity passenger rail service; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) incorporate equitable financial 

12 participation in the project’s financing, in13 cluding consideration of— 

14 ‘‘(I) donated or discounted inter15 ests in real or personal property; 

16 ‘‘(II) donated services; 

17 ‘‘(III) financial contributions by 

18 intercity passenger, freight, and com19 muter rail carriers commensurate with 

20 the benefit expected to their oper21 ations; 

22 ‘‘(IV) financial commitments 

23 from host railroads, non-Federal gov24 ernmental entities, nongovernmental 

25 entities, and others; and 


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1 ‘‘(V) Federal loans, including 

2 loans under title V of the Railroad 

3 Revitalization and Regulatory Reform 

4 Act of 1976 (45 U.S.C. 821 et seq.). 

5 ‘‘(3) GRANT CONDITIONS.—The Secretary shall 

6 require each recipient of a grant under this chapter 

7 to comply with the grant requirements under section 

8 22905. 

9 ‘‘(4) STATE RAIL PLANS.—State rail plans com10 pleted before the date of enactment of the Passenger 

11 Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 that 

12 substantially meet the requirements of chapter 227 

13 of this title, as determined by the Secretary pursu14 ant to section 22706, shall be deemed by the Sec15 retary to have met the requirements of paragraph 

16 (2)(A)(i) of this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(e) FEDERAL SHARE.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the 

19 cost of a capital project financed under this section 

20 shall not exceed 80 percent of the project’s net cap21 ital cost. 

22 ‘‘(2) IN-KIND MATCH.—The fair market value 

23 of in-kind contributions to a capital project financed 

24 under this section shall be treated as non-Federal 

25 matching funds for purposes of paragraph (1). 


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1 ‘‘(3) LOANS.—The value of any Federal loans 

2 paid back with non-Federal funds shall be treated as 

3 non-Federal matching funds for purposes of para4 graph (1). 

5 ‘‘(f) ISSUANCE OF REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 

6 year after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

7 Secretary shall issue regulations to carry out this section. 

8 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

10 appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this sec11 tion $5,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

12 2021 through 2025. 

13 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Any amounts 

14 appropriated for a fiscal year pursuant to paragraph 

15 (1) that remain unobligated at the end of such fiscal 

16 year shall be made available for eligible projects in 

17 the following fiscal year.’’. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The chapter analysis 

19 for chapter 261 of title 49, United States Code, is amend20 ed by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘26107. Intercity passenger rail service investment program.’’. 

Æ 


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