President’s budget includes $150 million for 2 rail lines

Full funding expected in fall

Steve Hawley, May 12, 09.

President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget includes $150 million for Houston’s North and Southeast light rail lines, according to a press release from the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO).

The release notes:

By including funding for these projects in its budget, the administration is signaling its intent to enter into Full Funding Grant Agreements (FFGA) for the two corridors. An FFGA commits the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to fund transit projects over several years.
METRO President & CEO Frank J. Wilson said METRO’s inclusion in the budget is unprecedented and exciting because it follows on the heels of the agency’s receipt of four Letters of No Prejudice, which authorize the agency to begin spending its own funds, totaling $135.7 million, on the two corridors for advanced design work, early materials procurement, utility relocation, and rail car purchases.
“This signifies the administration’s confidence in our projects and its willingness to work toward Full Funding Grant Agreements, which we expect to receive this fall,” said Wilson.

Christof Spieler of the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition has more at his Intermodality blog:

The local conclusion: all three of the Houston projects [the North, Southeast, and University lines, although the University line is not included in the 2010 budget] stack up well in this list in terms of bang-for-the-buck (the actual funding criteria are more complicated than ridership vs. cost, but this gives some idea). The University Line, for example, is predicting as much ridership as funded projects that cost three or four times as much. If METRO and city leadership keep things on track locally, the odds of getting federal funding look good.

Spieler notes that an FFGA would provide $331.7 million for the North line and $333.5 million for the Southeast line.

Federal Transit Administration: Annual Report on Funding Recommendations (pdf, 12 mb)