§ 24319 — Grant Process And Reporting

(a) The Secretary of Transportation shall— (1) establish and maintain substantive and procedural requirements, including schedules, for grant requests under this section; and (2) report any changes to such procedures to— (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; (B) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; (C) the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; and (D) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. (b) Amtrak shall transmit to the Secretary a grant request annually, or as additionally required, for Federal funds appropriated to the Secretary of Transportation for the use of Amtrak. (1) Each grant request under subsection (b) shall, as applicable— (A) categorize and identify, by source, the Federal funds and program income that will be used for the upcoming fiscal year for each of the Northeast Corridor and National Network in 1 of the categories or subcategories set forth in paragraph (2); (B) describe the operations, services, programs, projects, and other activities to be funded within each of the categories set forth in paragraph (2), including— (i) the estimated scope, schedule, and budget necessary to complete each project and program; and (ii) the performance measures used to quantify expected and actual project outcomes and benefits, aggregated by fiscal year, project milestone, and any other appropriate grouping; and (C) describe the status of efforts to improve Amtrak’s safety culture. (A) Each grant request to use Federal funds for operating expenses shall— (i) include estimated net operating costs not covered by other Amtrak revenue sources; (ii) specify Federal funding requested for each service line described in section 24320(b)(1); and (iii) be itemized by route. (B) A grant request to use Federal funds for expenses related to debt, including payment of principle and interest, as allowed under section 205 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–432; 49 U.S.C. 24101 note). (C) A grant request to use Federal funds and program income for capital expenses shall include capital projects and programs primarily associated with— (i) normalized capital replacement programs, including regularly recurring work programs implemented on a systematic basis on classes of physical railroad assets, such as track, structures, electric traction and power systems, rolling stock, and communications and signal systems, to maintain and sustain the condition and performance of such assets to support continued railroad operations; (ii) improvement projects to support service and safety enhancements, including discrete projects implemented in accordance with a fixed scope, schedule, and budget that result in enhanced or new infrastructure, equipment, or facilities; (iii) backlog capital replacement projects, including discrete projects implemented in accordance with a fixed scope, schedule, and budget that primarily replace or rehabilitate major infrastructure assets, including tunnels, bridges, stations, and similar assets, to reduce the state of good repair backlog on the Amtrak network; (iv) strategic initiative projects, including discrete projects implemented in accordance with a fixed scope, schedule, and budget that primarily improve overall operational performance, lower costs, or otherwise improve Amtrak’s corporate efficiency; and (v) statutory, regulatory, or other legally mandated projects, including discrete projects implemented in accordance with a fixed scope, schedule, and budget that enable Amtrak to fulfill specific legal or regulatory mandates. (D) A grant request to use Federal funds for operating and capital expense contingency shall include— (i) contingency levels for specified activities and operations; and (ii) a process for the utilization of such contingency. (3) The Secretary of Transportation and Amtrak may jointly agree to modify the categories set forth in paragraph (2) if such modifications are necessary to improve the transparency, oversight, or delivery of projects funded through grant requests under this section. (A) Not later than 30 days after the date that Amtrak submits a complete grant request under this section, the Secretary of Transportation shall finish a review of the request and provide notice to Amtrak that— (i) the request is approved; or (ii) the request is disapproved, including the reason for the disapproval and an explanation of any deficient items. (B) If a grant request is approved, the Secretary shall enter into a grant agreement with Amtrak. (2) Not later than 15 days after the date of a notice under paragraph (1)(A)(ii), Amtrak shall submit a modified request for the Secretary’s review. (3) Not later than 15 days after the date that Amtrak submits a modified request under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall either approve the modified request, or, if the Secretary finds that the request is still incomplete or deficient, the Secretary shall identify in writing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives the remaining deficiencies and recommend a process for resolving the outstanding portions of the request. (1) A grant agreement entered into under subsection (d) shall specify the operations, services, programs, projects, and other activities to be funded by the grant, consistent with the categories required for Amtrak in a grant request under subsection (c)(1)(A). The grant agreement shall include provisions, consistent with the requirements of this chapter, to measure Amtrak’s performance and ensure accountability in delivering the operations, services, programs, projects, and other activities to be funded by the grant. (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), in each fiscal year for which amounts are appropriated to the Secretary for the use of Amtrak, and for which the Secretary and Amtrak have entered into a grant agreement under subsection (d), the Secretary shall disburse grant funds to Amtrak on the following schedule: (A) 50 percent on October 1. (B) 25 percent on January 1. (C) 25 percent on April 1. (3) The Secretary may make a payment to Amtrak of appropriated funds— (A) using an otherwise allowable approach to the method prescribed for a specific project or category of projects under paragraph (2) if the Secretary and Amtrak agree that a different payment method is necessary to more successfully implement and report on an operation, service, program, project, or other activity; (B) more frequently than the schedule under paragraph (2) if Amtrak, for good cause, requests more frequent payment before the end of a payment period; or (C) with a different frequency or in different percentage allocations in the event of a continuing resolution or in the absence of an appropriations Act for the duration of a fiscal year. (f) Amounts appropriated to the Secretary for the use of Amtrak shall remain available until expended. Amounts for capital acquisitions and improvements may be appropriated for a fiscal year before the fiscal year in which the amounts will be obligated. (g) Amounts appropriated to the Secretary for the use of Amtrak may not be used to cross-subsidize operating losses or capital costs of commuter rail passenger or freight rail transportation. (1) Notwithstanding section 24301(a)(3) of this title and section 7501(a)(13) of title 31, Amtrak shall be deemed a “non-Federal entity” for purposes of chapter 75 of title 31. (2) The Secretary of Transportation may apply some or all of the requirements set forth in the regulations and guidance promulgated by the Secretary relating to the management, administration, cost principles, and audit requirements for Federal awards. (i) The Secretary of Transportation shall determine the varying levels of detail and information that will be included in reports for operations, services, program, projects, program income, cash on hand, and other activities within each of the grant categories described in subsection (c)(2). (j) Notwithstanding section 24102, for purposes of this section, the term “Northeast Corridor” means the Northeast Corridor main line between Boston, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia, and facilities and services used to operate and maintain that line.