Short liners maintain high hopes for CRISI's future 

By Julie Sneider, Senior Editor 

Short-line railroaders who are political nerds and follow the federal budget process were likely pleased when the U.S. Department of Transportation’s proposed discretionary budget proposal called for $500 million for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program in fiscal-year 2026. 

Managed by the Federal Railroad Administration, CRISI (pronounced “Chrissy”) is a big deal to the short-line industry because it’s the only federal grant program that small railroads — which typically have limited access to capital — can apply to directly for funding that helps pay for infrastructure projects that improve the operation and safety of their railroads.  

The $500 million for CRISI was included in President Trump’s FY26 discretionary budget request, which included the USDOT’s request for $3.2 billion in new budgetary resources for FRA. If approved by Congress, the FY26 amount for CRISI would represent a $400 million increase over the enacted amount in FY25.  

Those dollars also would come on top of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding, the multiyear surface transportation legislation passed in 2021 that featured a historic level of money for CRISI and other grant programs that impact rail. IIJA guaranteed CRISI $1 billion through the advanced appropriations process, plus authorized another $1 billion through annual discretionary appropriation. 

“We were really pleased and excited about seeing $500 million in the budget as a suggestion for FY26 discretionary funding,” says American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) President Chuck Baker.  

While there are many steps between an appropriations request and a public law that actually appropriates the money, the discretionary funding request for CRISI is an encouraging sign of the Trump administration’s priorities when it comes to funding transportation, according to Baker. CRISI funding even got a shoutout in the executive summary of USDOT’s “FY26 Budget Highlights” report. 

Baker and ASLRRA members are relentless in their advocacy for CRISI, which was created under the five-year Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act that Congress passed to fund surface transportation programs from 2016 through 2020. In early May during Railroad Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., ASLRRA representatives visited the offices of over 300 lawmakers to talk up CRISI and other short-line industry policy interests. 

“CRISI is by far the most important federal grant program out there for us,” says Baker. “We’ve found over the last seven or eight years that short-line projects tend to get about half of the CRISI funds available, and frankly we’re hoping to do even better than that under this [Trump] administration.”
 
The FRA launched CRISI in 2015 with the first grants going out in 2017. The program helps pay for projects that improve the safety, efficiency and reliability of intercity passenger and freight rail. In addition to short lines, eligible grant recipients can include individual states or a group of states; interstate compacts; public agencies; Amtrak; federally recognized Indian Tribes; and rail equipment manufacturers in partnership with any of those groups.  

“CRISI is by far the most important federal grant program out there for us.” — Chuck Baker, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association ASLRRA

Since 2017, over $2.7 billion in CRISI grants have been awarded to short-line related projects. Last year, in the most recent round of funding, the short-line industry received $1.29 billion across 81 grants, representing more than half of the available funds awarded through the program that year. Local and/or private funding matches ranged from 20% to 80%, adding even more value to the grants. It was the most successful grant year ever for short lines, according to the ASLRRA. 

A lot to chew on lawmakers’ plates 

Even if Congress doesn’t pass Trump’s discretionary budget, Baker believes the proposed budget appears to be an indication of the administration’s future support for the program. In Congress, CRISI attracts bipartisan backing because it funds job-generating projects that build, expand or fix rail infrastructure and that improve safety. In particular, rail safety has become a high priority for both Democrats and Republicans ever since the catastrophic freight-train derailment occurred in 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. 

“I’ve said this many times, but the top two risks of derailments on short lines are broken track and wide gauge,” Baker says. “And the only way to fix either of those issues is to just invest in the track — and that's exactly what CRISI does. So, there’s definitely bipartisan interest in rail safety and an awareness that CRISI helps that.” 

Another aspect of CRISI that makes it popular from a bipartisan perspective is its flexibility. 

“You can do all sorts of different types of projects,” says Baker. “You can do track rehab. You can upgrade locomotives. You can do grade separations. You can do projects in rural and urban areas, in towns and at ports.” 

Also, CRISI grants will fund intercity passenger projects as well as those that benefit Class Is, as long as they have a public sponsor for the grant. The point is, CRISI funding boosts rail safety, expands mobility and promotes economic development — all efforts that both parties can appreciate, Baker adds. 

Trump’s proposed FY26 budget “ask” is under review in Congress. A number of committees have held hearings on specific departments’ proposals, including transportation.  

But Congress doesn’t have to pass Trump’s discretionary budget and it’s unclear if it will, according to Baker. Right now, lawmakers’ plates are full of the president’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” the reconciliation legislation that would make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, provide more money for border security and defense and cut spending on  popular benefit programs like SNAP and Medicaid. Also, the Senate hasn’t yet voted on nominations for administrators of key agencies, including the FRA. 

Once the reconciliation legislation passes (or not), congressional attention will likely turn to debate over surface transportation reauthorization legislation that will succeed the IIJA, which will expire in September 2026. House and Senate transportation committees and subcommittees already have begun holding information-gathering hearings on issues they want addressed by that massive bill. 

But surface transportation reauthorization legislation will give ASLRRA and short liners another chance to hype CRISI and all the good it does for the industry. Baker hopes that the next reauthorization bill not only will continue the CRISI program, but that its funding will be guaranteed each year like it is under the IIJA. Prior to the IIJA, CRISI was created with an authorization, meaning that CRISI funding had to go through the annual appropriations process in Congress.  

“If there’s not some method of guaranteed funding for CRISI going forward, that frankly would be a step backwards,” Baker says.