I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2933 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a local rail facilities 

and safety program to award grants for freight capacity projects, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2015 

Mr. LARSEN of Washington introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a local 

rail facilities and safety program to award grants for 

freight capacity projects, and for other purposes. 

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 TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘At-Grade Crossing En5 hancement Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LOCAL RAIL FACILITIES AND SAFETY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 201 of title 49, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 20168. Local rail facilities and safety program 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Transpor3 tation, acting through the Administrator of the Federal 

4 Railroad Administration, shall establish a local rail facili5 ties and safety program (in this section referred to as the 

6 ‘Program’) to mitigate the impacts of railroad operations 

7 in local communities through improvements to highway8 rail grade crossings, rail line relocation and improvement 

9 projects, and training and technical assistance to local 

10 governments. 

11 ‘‘(b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—In carrying out the Pro12 gram, the Secretary may award grants to eligible entities 

13 for freight capacity projects (as described under sub14 section (e)). 

15 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 

16 the Program, an eligible entity shall submit to the Sec17 retary an application in such form, at such time, and con18 taining such information as the Secretary determines is 

19 appropriate. 

20 ‘‘(d) PROJECT SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting 

21 the recipients of grants for freight capacity projects under 

22 the Program, the Secretary shall consider— 

23 ‘‘(1) the extent to which a proposed project— 

24 ‘‘(A) alleviates the impacts of rail oper25 ations on local neighborhoods or urbanized 

26 areas; 


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1 ‘‘(B) will result in clearly defined public 

2 benefits; 

3 ‘‘(C) contributes to increasing the competi4 tiveness and state of good repair of short line 

5 railroads; 

6 ‘‘(D) enhances safety at critical highway7 rail grade crossings; 

8 ‘‘(E) is compatible with local land use, eco9 nomic development, and transportation plans 

10 and objectives; 

11 ‘‘(F) includes equitable participation from 

12 other beneficiaries in the project’s financing, in13 cluding the extent to which the project will le14 verage private or local government investments; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(G) will increase the reliability and resil17 ience of the Nation’s freight system; and 

18 ‘‘(2) the past performance of the recipient and 

19 other beneficiaries of the project in developing and 

20 delivering rail projects. 

21 ‘‘(e) FREIGHT CAPACITY PROJECTS.—A grant 

22 awarded under the Program may be used for the following: 

23 ‘‘(1) A capital project to mitigate the impacts 

24 of rail infrastructure and operations on a local com25 munity, including— 


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1 ‘‘(A) rail line relocation and improvement; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) improving the safety of, or elimi4 nating hazards at, a highway-rail grade cross5 ing. 

6 ‘‘(2) A capital project to improve short-line rail7 road infrastructure. 

8 ‘‘(3) Training and technical assistance to help 

9 local governments better understand how to coordi10 nate with railroad carriers on— 

11 ‘‘(A) operations and safety issues; and 

12 ‘‘(B) how to integrate railroad issues into 

13 land use and transportation planning processes. 

14 ‘‘(f) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant may be used to pay 

15 all or a portion of the subsidy and administrative costs 

16 of projects eligible for Federal credit assistance under the 

17 Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 

18 1976 (45 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) for a capital project to im19 prove short-line railroad infrastructure. 

20 ‘‘(g) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, 

21 the term ‘eligible entity’ means each of the following: 

22 ‘‘(1) One or more States. 

23 ‘‘(2) An Interstate Compact. 

24 ‘‘(3) A local government. 

25 ‘‘(4) A tribal government. 


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1 ‘‘(5) One or more metropolitan planning organi2 zations. 

3 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

5 $300,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 

6 2021.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

8 chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code, is amended 

9 by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘20168. Local rail facilities and safety program.’’. 

Æ 


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