Illinois and Michigan won $19 million in the latest round of Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair Program (SOGR) grants, announced in late May by the Federal Railroad Administration. Those grants were two of 12 awarded to projects in nine states, totaling more than $302 million.

The multi-state effort to add a second daily passenger train between the Twin Cities, Milwaukee and Chicago got a big boost when the Federal Railroad Administration awarded the project a $12.6 million federal grant.

MIPRC states fared well in the latest round of federal Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grants, announced March 12 by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Among $248.5 million in total grant funds awarded to 27 states, passenger rail-related projects projects in Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin will receive up to $48,795,496.

Kansas state Senator and MIPRC Commissioner Carolyn McGinn hosted the Kansas Legislature’s third annual hearing on passenger rail at the Kansas State Capitol on January 22. Representatives from Amtrak, BNSF, Kansas DOT (KDOT) and MIPRC were invited to address an overflow group of legislators and advocates on the current state of passenger rail development at the federal, state and local levels.

Two Illinois Amtrak station improvement projects are the only Midwestern passenger rail-related winners among $900 million in BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) grants announced on November 12, 2019, by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Fresh from the June announcement that every MIPRC state had won a Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant, the region got more good news in August when the Federal Railroad Administration announced the first “State Of Good Repair” (SOGR) grant awards: three Midwestern states are among the 10 winners.

The Midwest reaped a bountiful harvest last month when the Federal Railroad Administration announced more than $326 million in grant awards to states, localities and railroads for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program.

Capital funding and new service are coming down the tracks for riders of Illinois’ passenger trains in the state’s new six-year, $45 billion capital budget, a.k.a the “Rebuild Illinois” program. That budget, signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on June 28, allocates $33 billion to transportation, including funding to improve existing routes and revive two dormant projects to restore passenger service – between Chicago and the Quad Cities, and Chicago and Rockford.