Sponsors
The bill provides targeted federal funding to improve safety, reliability, and planning for commuter-rail bridges, at the cost of $1.5 billion per year in federal spending and potential financing and administrative burdens for non-owner operators and multiuse bridge owners.
Commuter rail riders, workers, and the communities they serve will see safer, more reliable service because the bill creates dedicated federal grants to repair or replace aging commuter-rail bridges and prioritizes projects by bridge condition and asset-management needs.
Transit agencies and operators gain a predictable funding stream ($1.5 billion per year for FY2027–2031) to support long-term planning and capital programs for commuter-rail bridge projects.
Federal taxpayers face new spending of $1.5 billion annually, which may increase deficits or crowd out other federal priorities.
Owners of multiuse bridges (including small owners or local jurisdictions) may be left to cover costs not attributable to public transportation use because eligible grant funding is limited to the net capital share for transit, complicating financing for some projects.
Commuter-rail operators that do not own bridges may face project delays and increased administrative burden because they must negotiate access agreements with owners before grant funds can be used.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a competitive grant program authorizing $1.5 billion per year (FY2027–2031) to fund commuter rail bridge maintenance, replacement, and rehabilitation for the transit-attributable share of costs.
Introduced January 27, 2026 by Tammy Duckworth · Last progress January 27, 2026
Creates a new federal competitive grant program to help public transit agencies pay capital costs to maintain, replace, or rehabilitate commuter rail bridges. The grants are targeted to the portion of bridge costs attributable to commuter rail use, require access agreements when the transit agency does not own the bridge, set short solicitation and award timelines each year, and authorize $1.5 billion per year for fiscal years 2027–2031 to support the program. The program borrows eligibility, application, and grant-term rules from the existing transit state-of-good-repair authority except where the new rules differ, and directs the Secretary of Transportation to weigh factors such as system size, bridge condition and age, and whether replacement is prioritized in a transit asset management plan when making awards.