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Platform Chats
Platform Chats
Rails to Success: Navigating FRA Grants and Funding
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In this episode of Platform Chats, host Walt Bleser sits down with Amanda Ciampolillo, Deputy Director of the Office of Environmental Program Management, and Karla Maffett, Deputy Director of Project Delivery, from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Together, they discuss the FRA's mission to enhance rail safety and efficiency through strategic partnerships and impactful investments. Amanda and Karla explore the FRA's grant programs, sharing valuable tips for securing funding, with a focus on the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program, which has significantly boosted rail funding. Both guests also share their unique career paths to the FRA, showing that success often comes from unexpected journeys. Fun fact: Amanda loves trains so much that a long-distance Amtrak ride smells like adventure!
A successful application from just my perspective is something that moves the needle and like really demonstrates how the federal government's funding is going to improve the safety and security of our rail infrastructure. We are in the business here at FRA in our in our RD office of partnering to advance effective rail investments because we can't do this on our own. And so we really need the industry and those those applicants to come to us to say, this is how we're going to use the funding to really advance rail across the country. So if an app if an application can demonstrate that, it's it's solid, it has great benefits, uh, we look at those and um as in our application review process and take a look at those, but we are here to to partner with folks. We cannot do this on our own. And so a good application is going to be one that really clearly demonstrates the benefits of that federal investment being used for those projects.
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SPEAKER_01Hey everybody, and welcome back to yet another chapter, edition, whatever you want to call it, of Platform Chats episode. I guess we'll go with episode of Platform Chats. I'm your host, Walt Blesser. I cannot believe if this is number 38. I was just uh thinking about this as I was prepping for the day. Uh I can't believe we've been doing this for almost four years now, and we have gone from the dead last number 30 out of 30 railroad podcasts to at one point we hit number two, and we recently dropped to number four, and I think that's only because we have been slightly absent with content, uh, and that is because we had a pretty busy fall. As many of you know, our big conference is held uh every fall. Sometimes it's late August, sometimes it's September, and sometimes it's even October. Uh this year we were in Louisville, I think I said that right for the first time, Kentucky, and we had a great showing in Louisville for Arima. We had uh our same the same MC we had last year. Mr. Keith Bailey was back. I thought it was a he did a great job. Uh we got to have our emerging technologies panel moved from Wednesday. We were on the big show main stage Monday, which was really cool. And it was so fun to see and meet a lot of folks that listened to the podcast while we were there in Louisville, and the positive feedback was really cool because uh, you know, it's a volunteer organization, and volunteer paychecks are pretty much all the same no matter where you're volunteering at zero. Anyway, we had a request, believe it or not, to uh as a result of uh the railway, uh the big railway show, a Rima show in Louisville, to interview the FRA as a follow-up uh to a presentation that was given on Monday morning with Amanda Champolillo from the FRA's not the Gestapo side of the house, if you will, but the side of the house that is helping to move America forward through funding and through assistance and pro grant programs to short lines as well as uh railroads across the country that need it. Uh, and I'm not gonna take steal all of her thunder, but if you've unless you've been living under a rock uh in our industry, the last couple years there has been significant funding made available uh through the FRA Chrissy Grant program. And believe it or not, we were gonna record this uh earlier in October, and Amanda said, No way, dude. We have got a lot of awards to give out, decisions to be made. I'm sure there was a lot of smoke and scotch and whatever happens in those dark rooms where these decisions are made. Uh, and she said, I also want to bring on one of my favorite, I think the term was, co-workers, uh, Miss Carla Moffat, who uh has a unbeknownst to her a fantastic railroad last name until about five minutes ago. So I've got both of them on the show. I apologize for the long intro. I'm really excited about this one because we're gonna kind of get into an area that I don't know very well, uh, and I'm just excited to hear what they have to say, not only about the process, the grants, but also I think they might even, uh, if we're lucky, give us a couple tips uh to those that are listening about maybe next year's awards. Like, hey, how how do I get noticed? What what what am I doing wrong? What am I doing right? What what are you guys looking for? Uh that's always nice to know when you're looking or asking for money, especially if you're asking for money in the uh, I don't know, seven to seven to eight, nine figure range. Uh so without further ado, uh they'll each do an introduction as we always do. Um, and we'll start with you, Amanda. How in the world did you get to the position that you are with uh with the FRA?
SPEAKER_03Awesome. Um, well, first, thanks for having us. Uh, we Carl and I do talk a lot about this kind of stuff, and it's great to be able to reach a different kind of audience on a podcast. It's also our first podcast, respectively, so big day for us. Um, but yes, my name's Amanda, and I am FRA's deputy director of our Office of Environmental Program Management. And I recognize that's a mouthful, but that is the office that oversees and helps facilitate environmental compliance responsibilities for federal grants. Uh, I work on the side of the house that does uh grant and project delivery, and the environmental and cultural resource component is an important part of that process. Um, but like almost everybody in FRA probably have a weird uh origin story. Um I grew up in upstate New York and went to school uh because I was gonna go to college that was non-negotiable for my parents, and my mom said, here's the big book of college majors, pick something you like, and that's how you pick a career. And uh I liked sports, and so the first management in the first the first major in the book was sports management, and I decided I was gonna go to school and own the Boston Celtics, like you do. Um, very first day of freshman year, um, went to financial accounting and then went to my intro to management class, and by noon realized I had made a terrible mistake and needed to switch majors and switch schools. Uh ended up at a small state school in northern New York as a dual history and education major. Uh, because I loved history, and so I thought let's do that. Uh, my mom was a teacher, and so I was like, oh, I will teach kids, that'll be great. Fast forward to senior year when I was like, wait, I don't actually want to do that. So I graduated with a history degree, and like my mom told me, everything will come if you do something you like. And when I opened the newspapers, because yes, dear listeners, that is what you did in 2001, uh, there were no jobs for historians. So uh I got a temp job um packing boxes and driving forklifts, and one day walked past, I was driving to school or driving to work and drove past a bunch of people um picketing outside an old building. They were historic preservationists. And I was like, ooh, what is that? And uh turns out you can go to school for that. And so I went to the University of Vermont, got my master's degree in historic preservation, listless, uh, until Hurricane Katrina hit. And um FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was hiring. And uh they paid you. It wasn't an unpaid internship, they would pay you. So we started with FEMA, uh, traveled the country chasing disasters, uh, ended up leading their Mid-Atlantic office for environmental and historic preservation compliance, and then needed a change. Um, and I had some folks who had worked at FEMA who had come over to FRA previously, and I'm one of those folks that loves trains. Uh I love trains. I think a long-distance Amtrak train smells like adventure. Um, and so I am super was super excited to come over and take a job at FRA doing railroad stuff. And uh have been lucky enough to be here as an in the environmental team. The environmental team has grown dramatically, just like most of our side of FRA. Uh, and I'm lucky enough to be the deputy director of our office to try and make things uh work better, work faster, and uh move infrastructure funding out the door.
SPEAKER_01So you moved from uh from FEMA to FRA, correct?
SPEAKER_03Correct.
SPEAKER_01Okay, all right, got it. And yes, with a title like that, you must have an eight-inch long uh business card to hand people.
SPEAKER_03It's almost, yeah, I like to say my title almost as long as my last name, but it's close.
SPEAKER_01Ah, excellent. All right, Carla, good luck uh topping that one because I giggled uh three times, I think.
SPEAKER_04Ugh well, only three times. Maybe hopefully I can get you to giggle at least five times, but we'll we'll see where that goes. So um it's always difficult to follow Amanda, but I will do the best that I can. So um again, thank you so much for having both of us here. As Amanda alluded to, we could really talk about this for many, many hours, but uh dear listeners, we will try to keep this within a reasonable time frame. Um my name is Carla Moffitt. I currently serve as the deputy director within the Office of Regional Outreach and Project Delivery, and that is within the Office of Railroad Development at FRA, the Federal Railroad Administration. So Amanda and I are uh deputies within the larger Office of Railroad Development. And as Amanda mentioned, she is really focused on the environmental portion of our discretionary grants and projects that the FRA either administers or helps out with in the railroad uh industry. I'm sort of on a different side of the house. I'm on the project management side. And so here at FRA, we have project teams for all of our discretionary grants and all of our projects that we work on. And so we have subject matter experts in project management, uh, environmental analysis, planning, engineering, grants management, you name it, we we work with them. And so uh I work with the project managers, and uh, much like Amanda is trying to help to standardize and um you know make things relatively the same across the board for the environmental side of the house, I'm doing the same thing from the project management and project delivery side of the house. So we both have been in our respective positions for a year and a half or so uh now and um have been you know working to help administer some of the um unprecedented amount of funding that FRA has received with the bipartisan infrastructure bill over the last couple of years. It'll actually be three years uh pretty pretty shortly. So um we are both in this uh adventure together and you know happy to be be part of this. So um much like Amanda, I took a little bit of a different path to get to FRA. I like to say that I came by happenstance. Um I grew up in Maryland, uh just above Baltimore, and then went down to the DMV or the DC area uh for my undergrad, majored in business with a concentration in marketing. Um, much like Amanda, when I got to that sort of like finance accounting side of uh business, I was like, ugh, not sure if it's for me, but we'll we'll see how we go with this. Um so kept on it. Um and my the summer of my junior year going into senior year, I too realized I wanted an internship, and I too realized I wanted that to be paid. Um, and being in the DC area, I was really able to tap into the government agencies that were really right next door. Um, and so I was able to secure an internship, a paid internship, thank you, uh, with the Department of Transportation, um, and really was there uh through the remainder of my undergrad and was able to come on board as a student intern while I worked for my MBA. I did receive my MBA in international business. Um, again, you're probably asking, okay, well, how did you get to rail if you were in business and you know, international business and marketing? Um, fun fact, life does not always go as you planned. And so once I graduated with an MBA, um, I came on board with the Federal Highway Administration working with the TIFIA office. They're part of the Build America Bureau, but they help to administer the loans with um DOT right now. So I was with the TIFA office for about two years or so uh doing financial um uh oversight for the loans that we had. So I was able to travel across the country, see a lot of the projects that we helped to fund from the Department of Transportation perspective for our loans, and decided I wanted something a little bit different. Um, there was an opening at FRA. I said, let's see what happens, uh, applied and was able to come on board as a project manager in 2015. So I've been with FRA about nine years now. Um started as a project manager with the Southwest region of the US, and then I've worked my way up to the deputy spot where I am now. So much like Amanda trying to make things uh better, faster, stronger when it comes to the FRA and our discretionary grant program.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. And so did you have to move to the Southwest or have you always uh been DC are you are are you DC based now?
SPEAKER_04No, I actually relocated down uh down south about a year ago. So I was in the the DC area for about 15 years, and I am now a southerner, uh I guess I could say officially.
SPEAKER_01Okay, excellent. Well, I'm I'm I'm stoked to have you both on here, and uh I was thinking uh this morning about kind of where to start. And I I think an easy place to start is when people think or hear the term Federal Railroad Administration or FRA, I think they very much associate that with, like, say the FAA as a rules enforcement agency oversight of uh safety of the traveling public. I don't think Americans have a very good understanding of the interaction between the FRA and our freight railroads because it is can can be contentious, uh just because of the history of how everything got to today versus say FAA. Um and here we are uh talking about uh you know grant money and uh etc. So could one of you just give me uh a 20,000-foot view of how the FRA is uh assembled or or how it's organized and and where you fit uh is it is it two sides of the house or is it three sides?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I I will I will say there's we are primarily FRA is a safety organization, and that is primarily our focus, and that drives all of what we do. Uh FRA is most known for the safety side of the house, uh, which does a plethora of activities from the individual inspectors up to like more programmatic activities. We also uh have support staff, uh, we have lots of uh you know, our chief counsel, our administrative offices. We also have uh research and development as well. But Carl and I both work on the grant making side, the the Railroad Development Office, which we recognize we're offices in an office can get a little confusing, but we work in the Office of Railroad Development or RRD, and that is where the grant, that's basically FRA's grant making arm, uh, and we work in the respective offices that advance that infrastructure funding that we have. Uh either you know discretionary grants or or um some of our other grants are Amtrak funding that comes through, and we work on making the grants that make the system overall a safer place to be.
SPEAKER_01Perfect. Carla, is there anything you want to pile on there? You you get with that.
SPEAKER_04No, I'm gonna give it two thumbs up. Amanda did did a great job there.
SPEAKER_01Okay, perfect. All right, so I I think that's it, that's a great uh answer. Uh and I'll let Carla, you can go first on this one too. Um if if we okay, so if we go from FRA and then we work our way down, uh I think both of you referenced the bipartisan uh infrastructure bill. Uh I'm assuming that that affects more than just the railroads. Um I is it is the is money from that bill being provided to Amtrak, railroads, highways, is there something you can speak to maybe start there and then maybe figure out how that flows uh into the CRISI, which someone's gonna have to define that for me too.
SPEAKER_04Sure. I'm I'm more than happy to take a stab at that. So the bipartisan infrastructure law, like I mentioned earlier, that is almost three years since it has been passed. Um is December, I'm sorry, November of 2021. So we are coming up on our three-year anniversary for that already. Um, time is a construct, I keep telling myself. And um, with that, that really provided not only a focus on infrastructure and advancing transportation across the country for all of the modes that are part of the Department of Transportation. So Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, yes, those are two separate things. Transit and rail are two very separate things, um, but as well as federal highway administration, um, our ports, and you know, things like that. So all of the different modes of transportation are able to tap into that bipartisan infrastructure bill itself. And at the the ground level, it did provide what I like to call a buku amount of funding that we have just not seen before. Um, FRA, we are, as Amanda alluded to, we are really the our focus obviously is going to be on safety, um, number one at the end of the day. And with the help of the bipartisan infrastructure law, we've been able to really expand that great grant-making arm, and that's sort of the side of the house that Amanda and I are in. We've been able to expand that grant-making arm um over the last couple of years to match um some of the levels that may have historically been given to FHWA or even FTA. Um, and so we are able to really play with the big dogs now when it comes to our uh discretionary grant and the funding that we have.
SPEAKER_01Perfect. I think that's a great baton. Oh, I'm sorry, I I was just thinking uh that that is a great I I did not know that. So I just want to tap in on a couple things before you kept going. Um you mentioned how it passed in November of 21. Does it have an expiration date or like a renewal?
SPEAKER_03So it it it did give us five years of funding so that we have um I want to say the number of 66 billion dollars across our uh grant programs that run from FY22 to FY26. Uh but so that yeah, okay. We'll get the numbers right. I think we're I think that's okay.
SPEAKER_01That all right, that makes sense. And then Chrissy, uh who wants to take a stab at what that stands for and how it is associated with because I feel like Chrissy's been around a long time, right? Like it predates the infrastructure bill, but the funding for it is coming from said bill, I I think. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so the ink I'll um I'm gonna take it because I had a feeling we're gonna ask them what it was going to be.
SPEAKER_04Chrissy has been around for for quite some time. Um, it did start prior to the infrastructure bill, and we like to consider Chrissy sort of our our catch-all program, where any and everything um that relates to rail can really potentially fall within the Chrissy uh program itself. And so Chrissy stands for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program. Um, we love our acronyms here in the the government, so if we can shorten something, we definitely will. Um, and so that is that is what Chrissy stands for. And to date, the the recent announcements that we did for selections um a little over or a little under a week ago, excuse me, have been the largest selections that we have announced uh under the CRISE program to date. So uh that is really thanks in part not only to uh two-year money that is under the CRISE program. So it covers fiscal years 23 and 24, um, but it also uh is due in part to the bipartisan infrastructure bill itself.
SPEAKER_01Perfect. I will not try to repeat back to you what that stands for. Uh but I know I appreciate that. So Amanda, maybe uh jump in here a little bit about I think you were heading down the road of the history of the Chrissy a little bit and like how it's funded. Um however you want to pile on, be my guest.
SPEAKER_03Sure. No, I mean Car Carla hit most of those nails on their respective heads, but this this program is very, very popular and is uh one of our kind of our it's kind of our flagship program and really the increase in funding that we saw from Bill is really reflective of how successful FRA's been at using the Chrissy program and how honestly our our stakeholders have you know really talked about in lots and lots of circles about how impactful that funding is is for all kinds of uh railroaders and all kinds of organizations that touch rail. It is our kind of our broadest program so we fund a wide variety of different types of projects underneath there. So to see it get you know kind of the the additional like crissy love and support through the infrastructure bill was great because it it really touches a lot of folks. It's really impactful uh and it's kind of the the bread and butter of what we do.
SPEAKER_01Excellent and I so if I put on my other hat uh when I'm not wearing my Arima hat the company that I happen to uh to work for we do quite a bit of work with our shortline partners and our shortline partners have been very um well humbled to receive grants uh last year but again this year more than we've ever seen so let me ask you this before we get into the the cheat sheet of of what you're looking for if you and I'll I'll go right to you manna because you were just talking um if you were riding an elevator with uh let's just say my wife who has no idea what the industry's about how how would you explain to her in that in that minute or less of what the Chrissy funding is trying to accomplish how about that with the the the federal funding that's coming through that program what are like what what's what makes a successful successfully funded project in your eyes well I think every Chrissy uh selection or every Chrissy announcement is going to come with in their notice of funding opportunity the list of things that FRA is really looking for and waiting.
SPEAKER_03So anytime somebody's looking to what is going to make a successful application I would always direct them back to that fiscal year's uh notice of funding opportunity that's in their federal register is always going to be the first thing. Maybe that's not elevator pitch talk but that's always where I'm gonna send folks first. A successful application from just my perspective is something that moves the needle and like really demonstrates how the federal government's funding is going to improve the safety and security of our of our rail infrastructure. We are in the business here of at FRA in our in our RRD office of partnering to advance effective rail investments because we can't do this on our own. And so we really need the industry and those those applicants to come to us to say this is how we're going to use the funding to really advance rail across the country. So if an apple if an application can demonstrate that it's it's solid it has great benefits uh we look at those and um as in our application review process and take a look at those but we are here to to partner with folks we cannot do this on our own and so a good application is going to be one that really clearly demonstrates the benefits of that federal investment being used for for those projects.
SPEAKER_01Okay understood and it looks like we may have temporarily lost Carla uh so that's unfortunate hopefully she can come back and join us Amanda you strike me as someone that couldn't carry the water just fine uh that was a great answer I I appreciate that that's it is you you you really hit on highlight or excuse me you really hit on the fact that you're partnering with the railroads to get this done um but moving the needle for safe infrastructure I really liked that little tagline so again coming back uh I'm gonna hit on a couple things here and just dig a little deeper so each year uh you make an announcement of what you're looking for. That's what I heard you say. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_03Every year at our when well I want to say every every time we put out a discretionary grant program, there's a notice of funding opportunity. This year, for example, for Chrissy we actually combined fiscal year 23 and 24 and we announced them together. So I don't want to say every year we do it this year we we actually combine two years of funding. That will tell you how to apply what we're looking for. I mean sp generally it's the same kind of things that are eligible year to year, but there is you know there can be some changes and that will sp that notice of funding opportunity will be very specific about what's eligible for funding.
SPEAKER_01So if there is someone listening to this that works for Railroad X uh and they submitted several grant applications and they got nothing um when would that next uh announcement when when when when should they be looking I guess per se as to when the next announcement might come out can we is that something you can tell us or no I can't tell you because I don't know but I will tell you that it is it will be in the Federal Register.
SPEAKER_03We will put it on our website we'll broadcast that out uh when that is when that will be available there's also the option for folks who have not who did not get selected this Chrissy round for example and are like hey I'm really bummed I really was I thought I had a strong application uh how do I do better what can I do you can email us and uh request a a debrief from our grants team about what what what what happened here are there any tips or can you provide me any feedback? There have been examples of folks who have gotten you know did not get a selection asked for a debrief and they've strengthened their application in subsequent rounds and then gotten a grant later on so we do offer that um debrief and you're gonna ask me what the email address is and I'm hoping that Carla has it closer to hand than I do because I it's on here. I'm pretty sure I know what it is but I do not want to get that wrong for your listeners.
SPEAKER_01Okay I'll I I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_04Carla do you have it I do I do have it so it is fr a dash no f is in frank o dash support at dotgov. So that would read fr a nofo support at do t dot gov and that is going to be the same email address address that was listed in the most recent notice of funding opportunity that Amanda mentioned is going to be in the Federal Register. So folks can go back to the uh latest announcement for the CRISE Fiscal year 2324 or even one for a different grant program and you'll be able to find that email address there.
SPEAKER_01Okay that's pretty awesome that you guys are willing to sit down with people and and debrief I mean I don't know like there's uh in the certain worlds when you put together a proposal and submit and you lose well you'll always wonder why uh so with something as big of a funding source as this to sit down and hear that so you I I just think that's really cool. And I think that uh it it provides an opportunity for what you're saying is that you can actually go back with the same in essence, right?
SPEAKER_04Project is that a good word uh but with a strengthened application and you guys have both seen examples of that where is is that something you can share with our with our listeners if or or no so I I don't have a specific example uh just because I I'm not that I don't have that in the back of my head I will say many other things are in the my brain right now but just not that but I do know that that has happened in the past um even from my time as being a project manager and participating in those debriefs with um a respective grantee they were really able to take our guidance and our support that we gave them through the debrief process to make sure that they were you know really being fully transparent and as responsive as possible to the guidelines that were established within the notice of funding opportunity. And so they they came back the next year and we were able to to select them because they had a very strong application. And like Amanda you know mentioned we're really looking for applications not only that you know move the needle but also meet the mark of what the appropriate program is. So in this instance what Chrissy really stands for and the project that we're trying to fund but also we are looking for projects that are ready to go. And by ready to go that of course looks different depending on if it's a construction project if it is a planning project if it is you know what we call a full life cycle so from planning all the way through to construction it really will depend on what the scope of the project is but at the end of the day we want to make sure that we are selecting projects that are ready to go because we we at the FRA back to what Amanda said we are here to partner with our respective grantees and our recipients and we want to make sure that we are providing the best assistance we can in that partnership. So you know the federal government believe it or not we are not here for additional bureaucracy for additional red tape and hoops to jump through and things like that. We really need the support of the um you know the applicants and the the potential grantees in order to provide a good application for us for us to select said good application and work through the project delivery cycle in an effective manner.
SPEAKER_01Yes you're both with the government and you are here to help and you've never heard that before so we appreciate that I uh so let me ask you this um let's say we've kind of covered the listeners that uh are familiar let's say familiar with Chrissy somewhat what if someone's never heard of it so we've got uh some somebody who is a new owner uh uh of a short line railroad or or multiple shortline railroads how about just a few examples of and I I would say either recently awarded or even last year or the year before that like examples of successful projects whether it's I can think of say upgrading a line to 286 uh bridges right that are maybe not at 286 but they are 263 for example since I'm a bridge guy I have to give a bridge example can you give other like a 20,000 foot view of of a project that might meet the mark or what the FRA might be looking for I and I understand your answer is going to be well it depends on what the next announcement's going to be but maybe just give examples in the past and either way sure I'll I will I'll give like some ideas on like I want to say name names but you we do we see a lot of track and tie improvements.
SPEAKER_03And uh specifically under Chrissy we see it we see a ton of that uh you know maybe it's upgrading it can be as simple as upgrading yard track it can be you know track and tie replacement to get to 286 um it can be bridge ties it can be reactivating an old siding or installing a new siding uh those are things we see a lot of um we also you know we do a lot of um specifically maybe more focused in our uh railroad crossing elimination program but we do great separation safety improvements around crossings we know that that interface is something that can be very dangerous and a and a focus point of trying to improve safety across the country um well we we do locomotive uh upgrades to get to cleaner locomotives we know that that is a major driver of decreasing emissions and air pollution uh so we funded in this in this round of Chrissy we did fund a a good a good chunk of new locomotive replacements um we'll all we always have bridge pro we've always had bridge projects right the a lot of utilitarian timber bridges in this country were not meant meant to last as long as they have and carry the load that we've been asking them to carry. So we do see that as a need that you know a lot of projects come in for that. And then we see things that aren't necessarily you wouldn't maybe necessarily think of we do transload a grant to transload facilities where we are helping to either you know establish protect or improve a facility that does transload from truck to train to try and get those um get those commodity movements off of trucks and onto rail which is environmentally from a climate perspective a much greener way of transporting materials across the country. And we do passenger rail improvements. We partner you know both with our Amtrak folks and their annual grants but also some discretionary grant funding there maybe a little less under Chrissy than some other programs but to further improve the nation's passenger rail systems too. But Carla does the hands-on kind of like project ease stuff work so I am sure she's got other types that I have forgotten.
SPEAKER_04Yeah I mean that Amanda you've really covered all of them I think the only other that I would really you know bring out is that we do have for under some of our programs and Chrissy is one of those programs where we do have projects that we select that are really for work first development or research related projects. So we have a lot that fall under the trespassing prevention. Again it goes back to FRA being a safety conscious agency but we also have those that are trying to help support you know colleges and universities and those who are really on the research side of the house when it comes to improving passenger rail across the country. So this year for the recent selections that we made we had a little over 10 projects that fall into the workforce development or research category that we were able to select over the within the last the last week or so. So it's really exciting that not only are we helping to you know fund the projects of what's going to be the future of FRA, the future of rail from the you know workforce development and from the research perspective, but we're also helping uh to support some of our short lines and our class one freight and um I mean even everywhere in between when it comes to you know the type of of infrastructure improvements that are needed to help make uh transportation across the country a a bit more accessible and just a bit more easy for for folks.
SPEAKER_01Wow I okay that really was a fantastic uh soundbite there because I when I think of of the Chrissy grant's work my mind generally goes straight to infrastructure and and the two of you both mentioned I heard rolling stock I heard workforce development I heard I heard grade crossings I heard activating I mean there's there that is a broad brush so if I'm listening to this and I am a railroad owner um it sounds like hey if you got a pretty good idea that's going to move the needle like someone said earlier today uh bring it to us we're gonna listen uh it doesn't sound like hey sorry it's gotta be you know rail ballast ties and what holds it up right uh that is kind of how I think but maybe that's because that's the industry I play in. But the rolling stock stuff is is very interesting. We've done the last two years now um we've had uh technology panels at the conference about uh battery electric vehicles uh hydrogen uh vehicles so so FRA is playing with that as well and I think that in supporting uh moving that moving our whole industry uh forward which I think is just really encouraging uh news now one thing I wanted to close out on here I know when uh we spoke previously there was a mention of uh how some folks are wondering where to start and how to be prepared for required environmental work. Uh do do one of you want to speak to that briefly? Amanda or Carla?
SPEAKER_03Yes even though Carla insists she has no NIFA hat, um it is a very small hat. Gets bigger by the day I think uh but since that's that's uh that falls under my purview at the in the Office of Environmental Program Management I'll take that. So we know that environmental and cultural resource work especially for folks who may not have gotten a federal grant before or it's been some time or maybe they've had a negative experience in the past it can sound a little overwhelming. The important things to know about um the environmental work is that it's required as part of federal funding. So anytime you get a an any entity gets a federal grant there are federal requirements that come along with that. My office is is there to help facilitate that compliance work. We know that not everyone has a giant NEPA hat that can the National Environmental Policy Act hat. Not everyone is an environmental expert but that's what the the team is there to do and every project every grant that gets selected will get generally two folks assigned from the environmental office one to do the environmental the other partnered to do the cultural resource work. We're there to help those uh those recipients forward and through their required process. A great thing to know ahead of time is you know we get a lot of questions like what am I get what's going to be required? How do I know the more environmental work is required it's really tied to impacts and it can be it's project and location specific. So if you have a uh you're trying to put a new siding and you're going through a wetland that's gonna have more impacts than if you have a siding that is not going through a wetland even though from the face of it from a maybe an industry perspective it's a it's a siding is a siding. Well there's environmental requirements that come along with the the project with the grant funding and it's really going to be location and impact dependent so the more um the more impacts you have the more complex your environmental and cultural resource documents may may be not always but maybe and a good place to start is just really understanding and defining what is your actual scope of work. Understanding and coming to us being you know Carla had mentioned like hey you need to you know really be ready and you know be ready to go and a big part of that is knowing what your scope is going to be. Is it you know how many bridge replacements are there? Where are they? Do you need to do temporary staging at or access? Are there any clearing that goes along with it we see big impacts and well we see a higher level of impacts around things like work in water new ground disturbance meaning that the ground has not been disturbed before and we're going to either churn it up plow through it we need to put in a new culvert and something in a in a stream bank or something like that. Anytime there's around sensitive species if it's a you know endangered species habitat for example that's going to be a higher level of review. And then our historic resources the railroad the railroads built a large part of this country and the railroads themselves and the alignments are not uh spring chickens and so whenever something is older than 50 years old it triggers an additional level of review for us to to do compliance for historic properties which means most of the for example most of those bridges across the country are older than 50 years old. So going into that if you know hey I'm asking for a bridge replacement bridge is 120 years old you're going to you're going to need to do some compliance work for cultural resources and we have found generally the folks that come in and know that ahead of time they have support however that works for that grantee specialized support to do that. Do you have your engineers do you have your environmental consultants do you have someone on staff that knows cultural resources those folks are generally a little bit more ready to actually jump in and get started on the projects that we have.
SPEAKER_01Okay that's uh that was a good sound bite if you are listening folks uh don't just say I've got a bridge that needs to be replaced because my stringers are splitting and my caps are crushing. It sounds like you need to have a good idea of where that bridge is and have an environmental specialist on board who has assessed it and is ready to provide any further uh documentation as necessary not well I'll find a guy maybe who knows how to do it in Florida if that's yeah so it sounds like you really have to um have your stuff together if you will uh when you're putting these applications together. I did not know that either this is fantastic. And as a non-environmental person I would also highly suggest not running a railroad through a wetland unless you want to do a lot of paperwork. All right that was a lot Amanda thank you that I think there's a lot of sound bites in this episode for those that are listening that I think might make you think not only I think is encouraging to apply, but also to how you are going to apply uh has been mentioned here. Carla, I think we should give you the last word if you have it andor I'd like to hear from both of you uh are you ever out and about in the industry?
SPEAKER_04I know Amanda we saw you at the Arima National Conference are you guys either of you members of like the Shortline Association are you are you physically out and about amongst us if you will I think you will you will uh likely see either Amanda R I or somebody from FRA we we have a a a large presence now I will say uh partially because we have a lot of people on board uh at FRA now over the last couple of years um you know one due in part to the Burns infrastructure law we've been able to sort of have a reorganization and a rethink of what it means to be part of FRA but we have um exponentially expanded the number of resources we have internally and with that as part of the program office that I am involved in regional outreach and project delivery we have a a um a regional outreach sort of customer stakeholder side of the house right now where they are focusing on our sponsor outreach so those who are state DOTs those the MPOs the JPAs all of the transportation different organizations that they are helping to provide information on our not only our programs but what it means to partner with FRA and we also have a dedicated freight railroad outreach team as well and so they are working not only with our class one railroad partners but they're also working with our short lines and everyone in between and so we're really trying to provide more information to the general public and also our prospective great Or project partners because we really want to make sure that everybody understands what it means to partner with FRA and potentially get a grant through FRA, but we want to set people up for success and set all of the applicants up for success. So the one thing I will sort of close out on before I hand it over to Amanda is to really make sure that everybody is checking out the Federal Railroad Administration's website. It's railroads.dot.gov. That has a plethora of information. I know Amanda and I went over very high level some of our grant programs, but we actually have a tool on our website that can help you understand our grant programs better, but it also sort of walks you through the process and you can determine based off of your project scope which grant program would be a best fit for you to give you the best opportunity to receive those federal funds. It also gives you information as far as what I like to call what to expect when expecting. So what to expect when expecting an FRA grant. These are really more so cooperative agreements. We are not just cutting a check and handing it over to our recipients once they've been selected. As Amanda mentioned from the environmental process, but there's also some other processes that there are prerequisites that we need to ensure from the federal side that are completed and completed appropriately before we're even able to sign that grant agreement. So from day one, from the day of selection, it truly is a partnership. And so any time that you know I can sort of point folks to the information that we have on our website as far as you know what it means to be an FRA grantee, the roles and responsibilities, you know, bits of information as far as gaining uh support for your project from infrastructure and other partners as well, and really just sort of figuring out what is, okay. I know I want to apply for an FRA grant. I'm not really sure which one it is. All of that information can really be found on our website. And we have multiple email addresses sort of on all of the pages of our website. If you need more information, you can reach out to us on that.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. Amanda, anything else?
SPEAKER_03Uh no, just that uh I well, yes, not no, yes, and don't talk if you said don't have anything to say. Um I will say that uh you if you have been to the shortline conferences lately, there were the two regional conferences for shortline. You did see environmental folks or hear environmental folks in both of those meetings. Um so we are getting more plugged in with the Shortline the American Shortline Railroad Association specifically. We did just go to that conference in Dallas and present it there. Uh I was just at the Railroad Environmental Conference last week presenting there as well with some of my friends and partners who like to talk about environmental work. But we like Carlos said, we are out there and getting and getting out there. Um if there is a place that folks think would really be beneficial for FRA, especially this program delivery and the grant-making side of the house to be at, uh please let us know because we do have folks who can who are more focused on outreach, but also you know there are some of us that um that do outreach and we want to plan specifically to meet our stakeholders where they are. And so if folks feel like there's a really great conference, I really wish you folks would be there, uh, to please reach out and let us know, and we will see we can we can get folks there to help.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's awesome. This is really encouraging. This is uh wow, thank you both for being on because this has really been fun. And I'll I'll be honest, as a person who has does not uh interact a ton with FRA, this is really cool to hear. Uh not only are you you're not just sitting back waiting for grants, like you're actively, proactively getting out there, you're you're letting people know that the funding is available and you want to help move this thing forward. That that's what I'm hearing. Uh, and I think that's that's really cool. Excellent. Uh well thank you again for having you both on. Can I I I do have one last question? I know we're going way over on time. If let's say uh uh someone heard their name announced last week uh as as a winner of said grant, grant X is a winner. From a timeline perspective, when from the moment uh say last week to actually starting work on that project, are they starting in the first quarter of next year? What is the goal there? Is it is are they starting in December or is it just all over the map?
SPEAKER_04So I'm I'm going to give my favorite answer, which is it depends.
SPEAKER_01Um it depends. I knew it.
SPEAKER_04In in general, uh the the next steps is so FRA is going to be hosting a kickoff webinar for all of our selected applicants. That's going to be on the 19th and 20th. Um and so the selected applicants, they've they've we've done our outreach to them and let them know that that kickoff webinar is happening for the the Chrissy program itself.
SPEAKER_01And I'm sorry, that's Nov is that November?
SPEAKER_04Yes, that's November 19th and 20th. Apologies for that. Um, and so that really starts the process of getting to what the the first major milestone and what I think most people are questioning, when can I get my money? Um so that that is the first step in making sure that people are able to effectively move through the cycle to get to a grant agreement. Um but I I will say, you know, if you were selected and you were one of the lucky ones to be selected under the Chrissy program itself, um, we can only work as fast as you can on your side. So again, it really goes back to making sure that the projects that you have submitted, they are ready to go. Uh, because we do have our our experts internally who are ready and willing to provide technical assistance to get to that first milestone, which is going to be a grant agreement and sort of obligation, and then continuing to work with you all and partner um with you all to effectively manage the the rail investment that that we are partnering with you all for. So it really does depend. Um we don't like to give out specifics when it comes to time frame because people will you know hold us to the the the the lesser amount of uh a time frame, but we are we are actively working internally to streamline and standardize our processes so that way um the recipients and our grantees can can feel that as well. And so again, we're not trying to put any additional steps into place or to make things more difficult than they need to be. Um, but it really just depends on you know making sure that the the project is truly ready to go. And if it's not ready to go, that's okay too. We just need to know so that way we can you know uh align our resources appropriately to help support and make sure that when the recipient is ready to move forward, we are ready right there with them.
SPEAKER_01Perfect. Couldn't have said it better myself. Glad I didn't even try. Uh appreciate both of you for being here. I I'm sorry went a little long, but I do think this was an important one. The timing, the timeliness of this. There's something going on tomorrow. Uh something. I I can't remember what it is, but uh we'll we'll see how that turns out as we'll see how that turns out as well for our listeners. We are recording on November 4th. So thank you both for being here, and I will hope to see you out in the industry. Take care.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for rolling with Arima on today's episode of Platform Chats. For further information about Arima, please visit arema.org or contact us at info at arema.org.
