
Senate Bill Would Provide State Grants to Bolster Railroad Projects
December 1, 2003
Senate Bill Would Provide State Grants to Bolster Railroad Projects
December 01, 2003 – A bill introduced last week by U.S. Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) calls for at least $30 billion in grants to be made available to states in order to boost passenger and freight railroad projects.
According to TWCrossroads.com, the bill would establish a framework for federal/state and public/private partnerships to promote infrastructure development for both freight and passenger rail.
"For passenger rail to be successful, its infrastructure must be developed through the kind of bold federal leadership we exercised for our other modes of transportation," said Hollings.
Under the bill, a non-profit entity, the Rail Infrastructure Finance Corporation, would be created to issue $30 billion in tax-credit bonds over six years for the purpose of providing grants to individual states for capital investment in freight and passenger rail infrastructure and facilities.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. For more, go to twcrossroads.com.