I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3090 

To establish a grant program to support interstate rail compacts and improve 

the safety, efficiency, or reliability of passenger and freight rail transportation systems, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 11, 2021 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to support interstate rail compacts and improve the safety, efficiency, or reliability 

of passenger and freight rail transportation systems, 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 ‘‘Interstate Rail Com5 pacts Advancement Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INTERSTATE RAIL COMPACTS. 

2 (a) IDENTIFICATION.—Section 410 of the Amtrak 

3 Reform and Accountability Act of 1997 (Public Law 105– 

4 134; 49 U.S.C. 24101 note) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (b)(2) by striking ‘‘(except 

6 funds made available for Amtrak)’’; and 

7 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(c) INTERSTATE RAIL COMPACTS PROGRAM.—The 

9 Secretary of Transportation shall— 

10 ‘‘(1) make available on a publicly accessible 

11 website a list of interstate rail compacts established 

12 in accordance with subsection (a); 

13 ‘‘(2) provide information to the public regarding 

14 interstate rail compacts, including how States may 

15 establish interstate rail compacts under subsection 

16 (a); and 

17 ‘‘(3) annually update the information provided 

18 under paragraph (2).’’. 

19 (b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—Chapter 229 of title 49, 

20 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘§ 22909. Interstate rail compacts support program 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop and 

24 implement a program for providing administrative assist25 ance grants to an applicant, on a competitive basis, to sup26 port interstate and regional efforts— 


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1 ‘‘(1) to improve the safety, efficiency, or reli2 ability of intercity passenger rail; and 

3 ‘‘(2) to promote and develop intercity passenger 

4 rail service, including through initiating, restoring, 

5 or enhancing intercity passenger rail service. 

6 ‘‘(b) APPLICANT SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In awarding grants under 

8 this section, the Secretary shall consider— 

9 ‘‘(A) the amount of funding received (in10 cluding funding from railroads) or other signifi11 cant participation by State, local, and regional 

12 governmental and private entities; 

13 ‘‘(B) the applicant’s work to facilitate and 

14 encourage regional planning for passenger rail 

15 improvement, enhancement, and development; 

16 ‘‘(C) the applicant’s work to foster, 

17 through rail transportation systems, economic 

18 development, particularly in rural communities 

19 and for disadvantaged populations; 

20 ‘‘(D) the applicant’s efforts to provide 

21 guidance to local communities on public and 

22 private resources relate to community concerns, 

23 such as congestion, rail and grade crossing 

24 safety, trespasser prevention, quiet zones, 

25 idling, and rail line relocations; 


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1 ‘‘(E) whether the applicant seeks to restore 

2 service over routes formerly operated by Am3 trak, including routes described in section 

4 11304(a) of the Passenger Rail Reform and In5 vestment Act of 2015 (title XI of division A of 

6 Public Law 114–94); 

7 ‘‘(F) the applicant’s dedication to pro8 viding intercity passenger rail service to regions 

9 and communities that are underserved or not 

10 served by other intercity public transportation; 

11 ‘‘(G) whether the applicant is enhancing 

12 connectivity and geographic coverage of the ex13 isting national network of intercity rail pas14 senger service; 

15 ‘‘(H) the applicant’s efforts to engage with 

16 entities to deploy railroad safety technology or 

17 programs, including trespassing prevention, rail 

18 integrity inspection systems, or grade crossing 

19 safety; 

20 ‘‘(I) whether the applicant prepares re21 gional rail and corridor service development 

22 plans and corresponding environmental anal23 ysis; 

24 ‘‘(J) whether the applicant would maximize 

25 the net benefits of the funds authorized for use 


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1 under this section, considering the cost-benefit 

2 analysis of the proposed project, including an3 ticipated private and public benefits relative to 

4 the costs of the proposed project; and 

5 ‘‘(K) whether the applicant has engaged 

6 with the Federal, local, or State government 

7 and transportation planning agencies to identify 

8 projects necessary to enhance multimodal con9 nections or facilitate service integration between 

10 rail service and other modes, including between 

11 intercity rail passenger transportation and 

12 intercity bus service, commercial air service, or 

13 commuter rail service. 

14 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE.—In selecting grant recipi15 ents, the Secretary shall give preference to appli16 cants that are initiating, restoring, or enhancing 

17 intercity rail passenger transportation. 

18 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION PROCESS.—The Secretary shall 

19 prescribe the form and manner of filing applications under 

20 this section. 

21 ‘‘(d) PERFORMANCE MEASURES.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab23 lish performance measures for each grant recipient 

24 to assess progress in achieving strategic goals and 

25 objectives. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT.— The Secretary shall 

2 require grant recipients to submit an annual report 

3 of the activities of such recipient and information re4 lated to applicable performance measures, which 

5 may include— 

6 ‘‘(A) a demonstration of progress to 

7 achieve or advance the relevant criteria de8 scribed in subsection (c); and 

9 ‘‘(B) receipt of non-Federal matching 

10 funds from each member State at least once 

11 during each fiscal year. 

12 ‘‘(e) FEDERAL SHARE OF TOTAL PROJECT COST.— 

13 The Secretary shall require each recipient of a grant under 

14 this subsection to provide a non-Federal match of not less 

15 than 50 percent of the administrative costs of the inter16 state rail compact. 

17 ‘‘(f) APPLICABLE REQUIREMENTS.—The use of any 

18 amounts appropriated for grants under this section shall 

19 be subject to the applicable requirements under this chap20 ter. 

21 ‘‘(g) APPLICABILITY.—Amounts appropriated to 

22 carry out this section shall remain available until ex23 pended. 

24 ‘‘(h) LIMITATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) MAXIMUM FUNDING PER APPLICANT.— 

2 The Secretary may not award a grant under this 

3 section in an amount exceeding $500,000 for each 

4 applicant in any fiscal year. 

5 ‘‘(2) NUMERIC LIMITATION.—The Secretary 

6 may not provide grants under this section to more 

7 than 10 interstate rail compacts in any fiscal year. 

8 ‘‘(i) USE OF INTERSTATE RAIL COMPACT GRANTS

9 AND OTHER FEDERAL FUNDING.—A recipient of an 

10 interstate rail compact grant under this section may use 

11 such grant in combination with other Federal grants 

12 awarded that would benefit the applicable use. 

13 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

15 an interstate rail compact or an interstate commis16 sion composed of 2 or more States that has been es17 tablished to promote, develop, or operate intercity 

18 passenger rail transportation systems. 

19 ‘‘(2) INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE.— 

20 The term ‘intercity passenger rail service’ has the 

21 meaning given the term ‘intercity rail passenger 

22 transportation’ in section 24102.’’. 

23 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap24 ter 229 of title 49, United States code, is amended by 

25 adding at the end the following: 

‘‘22909. Interstate rail compacts support program.’’. 


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1 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

2 20117(a)(4) of title 49, United States Code, is amended 

3 to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘(4) REGIONAL PLANNING GUIDANCE.—The 

5 Secretary may withhold up to $20,000,000 annually 

6 of the amount made available for each fiscal year 

7 under paragraph (1) to facilitate and provide guid8 ance for regional planning processes, including not 

9 more than $2,000,000 to provide funding for inter10 state rail compacts and commissions.’’. 

Æ 


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