Funding Strategies and Project Costs for State-Supported Intercity Passenger Rail: Summary Report (0-4723-S)

Federal operating subsidies to the National Rail Passenger Association (Amtrak) and cooperation between urban transit agencies using federal public transportation funding have long been the normal avenues for funding intercity and commuter rail passenger service; however, states are now being asked by the federal government to take an increased role in determining both the routes and level of service for passenger rail within each individual state. Along with these new responsibilities, states are being asked to partner with the federal government in funding a national intercity rail passenger system based upon the successful federal-state partnership models already in place for highways, transit, and air modes. Many states already provide financial support for passenger rail service in forms of: . regional coalitions of states banding together to provide rail service connecting their major metropolitan areas, . states providing funding to Amtrak for increased intercity rail service, and . states participating in the funding of improvements to the freight rail infrastructure over which most intercity routes operate. Texas, like many states, has a constitutional limitation that prohibits most direct state transportation fund expenditures from being used for rail projects. At the same time, the state legislature and others in both the public and private sectors are asking that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) study the feasibility of several intercity passenger rail projects throughout the state as a means to offset the increasing demands on the existing transportation network. In order to comply with such requests, TxDOT needs consistent data sources and tools regarding the costs and methodologies of funding intercity rail projects in other states.