I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2029
To amend title 23, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transpor-
tation to carry out a grant program for providing financial assistance
for local rail line relocation projects, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 25, 2001
Mr. PICKERING introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend title 23, United States Code, to require the Sec-
retary of Transportation to carry out a grant program
for providing financial assistance for local rail line reloca-
tion projects, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Rail Line
Relocation Assistance Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. RAIL LINE RELOCATION GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—
(1) AUTHORITY.—Chapter 2 of title 23, United
States Code, is amended by inserting after section
206 the following:
‘‘§ 207. Capital grants for rail line relocation projects
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary
shall carry out a grant program to provide financial assist-
ance for local rail line relocation projects.
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible for a grant
under this section for any project for the improvement of
the route or structure of a rail line passing through a mu-
nicipality of the State that—
‘‘(1) is carried out for the purpose of mitigating
the adverse effects of rail traffic on safety, motor ve-
hicle traffic flow, or economic development in the
municipality;
‘‘(2) involves a lateral or vertical relocation of
any portion of the rail line within the municipality
to avoid a closing of a grade crossing or the con-
struction of a road underpass or overpass; and
‘‘(3) meets the costs-benefits requirement set
forth in subsection (c).
‘‘(c) COSTS-BENEFITS REQUIREMENT.—A grant may
be awarded under this section for a project for the reloca-
tion of a rail line only if the benefits of the project for
the period equal to the estimated economic life of the relo-
cated rail line exceed the costs of the project for that pe-
riod, as determined by the Secretary considering the fol-
lowing factors:
‘‘(1) The effects of the rail line and the rail
traffic on motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic, safe-
ty, and area commerce if the rail line were not so
relocated.
‘‘(2) The effects of the rail line, relocated as
proposed, on motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic,
safety, and area commerce.
‘‘(3) The effects of the rail line, relocated as
proposed, on the freight and passenger rail oper-
ations on the rail line.
‘‘(d) CONSIDERATIONS FOR APPROVAL OF GRANT
APPLICATIONS.—In addition to considering the relation-
ship of benefits to costs in determining whether to award
a grant to an eligible State under this section, the Sec-
retary shall consider the following factors:
‘‘(1) The capability of the State to fund the rail
line relocation project without Federal grant fund-
ing.
‘‘(2) The requirement and limitation relating to
allocation of grant funds provided in subsection (e).
‘‘(3) Equitable treatment of the various regions
of the United States.
‘‘(e) ALLOCATION REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(1) PROJECTS
UNDER
$20,000,000.—At least
50 percent of all grant funds awarded under this
section out of funds appropriated for a fiscal year
shall be provided for rail line relocation projects that
have an estimated project cost of less than
$20,000,000 each.
‘‘(2) LIMITATION
PER
PROJECT.—Not more
than 25 percent of the total amount available for
carrying out this section for a fiscal year may be
provided for any one project in that fiscal year.
‘‘(f) FEDERAL SHARE.—The total amount of a grant
awarded under this section for a rail line relocation project
shall be 90 percent of the shared costs of the project, as
determined under subsection (g)(4).
‘‘(g) STATE SHARE.—
‘‘(1) PERCENTAGE.—A State shall pay 10 per-
cent of the shared costs of a project that is funded
in part by a grant awarded under this section.
‘‘(2) FORMS
OF
CONTRIBUTIONS.—The share
required by paragraph (1) may be paid in cash or
in kind.
‘‘(3) IN-KIND
CONTRIBUTIONS.—The in-kind
contributions that are permitted to be counted under
paragraph (2) for a project for a State are as fol-
lows:
‘‘(A) A contribution of real property or
tangible personal property (whether provided by
the State or a person for the State).
‘‘(B) A contribution of the services of em-
ployees of the State, calculated on the basis of
costs incurred by the State for the pay and ben-
efits of the employees, but excluding overhead
and general administrative costs.
‘‘(C) A payment of any costs that were in-
curred for the project before the filing of an ap-
plication for a grant for the project under this
section, and any in-kind contributions that were
made for the project before the filing of the ap-
plication, if and to the extent that the costs
were incurred or in-kind contributions were
made, as the case may be, to comply with a
provision of a statute required to be satisfied in
order to carry out the project.
‘‘(4) COSTS NOT SHARED.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of
subsection (f) and this subsection, the shared
costs of a project in a municipality do not in-
clude any cost that is defrayed with any funds