The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration will invest $5.3 billion in rail projects across the country. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the announcement Friday in the rotunda of Cincinnati's historic Union Terminal train station.
The funding will be distributed across three "bucket" areas:
- Close over 30 grade crossings and upgrade over a thousand with new infrastructure and technology
- Purchase 43 Made-in-America trainsets to replace Amtrak’s aging fleet in high-demand corridors
- Overhaul 41 locomotives currently serving Amtrak’s Midwest and Pacific routes.
"Grade crossings — those are the intersections where roads cross railroad tracks at grade — [are] the second leading cause of death in the rail industry. Nationally, there are more than 2,000 accidents a year and 200 deaths a year at these at-grade rail crossings," Duffy said.
Locally, $40 million of those dollars will go to Fairfield's Symmes Road Grade Separation Project, which will get rid of two at-grade crossings, one on Symmes Road and the second on North Gilmore Road.
Interim President Byl Herrmann said demand for Amtrak is stronger than ever, with the railway experiencing record ridership.
"The nearly $3 billion being announced today, through seven selected grants, will help Amtrak meet the growing demand and strengthen America's passenger rail network. These investments will build more trainsets for the state partners and the national network, strengthen operations in our Midwest hub, and advance critical infrastructure improvements that benefit both state-supported and our national network routes," he said.
"They will improve reliability, increase capacity, probably the most important of those, enhance shunt sensitivity to strengthen rail safety and operational performance, and deliver a better experience for millions of passengers."
The bulk of the funding comes from dollars that had previously been awarded to a high-speed rail project in California. In July, 2025, Duffy and the Trump Administration canceled the $4 billion in federal grants that had be allocated under previous administrations. California sued, but later withdrew the complaint, with the California High-Speed Rail Authority deciding to cut ties with the Trump Administration as it threatened other federal funding for the state.
Amtrak lines slated to receive new trainsets include: Adirondack, Blue Water, Carolinian, Cascades, D.C. to Newport News, D.C. to Norfolk, D.C. to Roanoke, Downeaster, Empire, Ethan Allen, Hartford Line, Hiawatha, Illini/Saluki, Illinois Zephyr, Keystone, Lincoln, Pennsylvanian, Pere Marquette, Piedmont, River Runner, and Wolverine routes.
Nationwide, 41 projects in 23 states are receiving awards. They include:
- $356 million for Florida DOT to perform good repair improvements at up to 910 highway-rail grade crossings across the State
- $2.5 million for the city of New Orleans in Louisiana to make critical repairs to 70-year-old platforms and canopies at the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal
- $1.1 million for the city of Crete in Nebraska to examine eight existing at-grade crossings to determine what future infrastructure improvements might be needed
- $299 million for the North Carolina DOT to eliminate nine grade crossings, install double track segments, and engage in trespassing prevention efforts
- $40 million for the city of Fairfield in Ohio to close two at-grade rail crossings and create a new bridge over a section of the CSX Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision.
- $189 million for the Texas DOT to eliminate nine crossings within the cities of Fort Worth, Dallas, and Terrell Texas and an additional $39 million for Hays County, Texas to construct a grade-separated bridge
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