WASHINGTON — Amtrak has applied for almost $300 million in federal grants to address infrastructure needs on the Northeast Corridor, including problems with the catenary system that have led to significant delays in recent months, NJ.com reports.
The passenger company is seeking $299.7 million through four Federal Railroad Administration CRISI (Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grants: $187.5 million to replace the Sawtooth Bridges in Kearny, N.J.; $80.3 million to replace an electrical substation in Kearny; $18.6 million to upgrade signals between New Brunswick and Elizabeth, N.J.; and $13.4 to replace catenary wires between North Brunswick and Newark, N.J.
The Sawtooth Bridges, where the NEC crosses NJ Transit’s Morris and Essex lines and Port Authority Trans-Hudson rail lines, date to 1907 and are among the 15 “major backlog” projects included in the FRA’s assessment of Northeast Corridor needs in 2022 [see “FRA ‘project inventory’ prioritizes potential $24 billion of Northeast Corridor grants,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 18, 2022].
Decisions on the grants are expected this fall, an Amtrak spokesman told NJ.com. The funds would provide for improvements concentrated in a 23-mile section of the corridor in northern New Jersey.
More on the Sawtooth Bridges project is available here.
All of the billions turned back by Florida and Wisconsin went into New Jersey’s NEC catenary and ROW. And now they’re back for more.
Why doesn’t NJ pay for it like all the Midwest states have to pay for their upgrades??
Bits and pieces only.
Who will do the work? Amtrak CAT work seems to stretch its employees to a limit of work time.