For Small Railroads, “RRIF Express”

Written by Andrew Corselli
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Chuck Baker, President, ASLRRA.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently announced a new pilot program, the Railroad Rehabilitation and Investment Financing Express (RRIF Express), to expedite long-term, low-cost loans for short line and regional freight railroads.

RRIF Express, USDOT said, “is aimed at reducing the time and costs associated with securing loans to modernize aging freight rail infrastructure. In addition to expedited handling of loan requests, the program provides up to $26 million in additional financial support. The DOT Build America Bureau will administer this new program in an effort to support economic activity and improve the safety, capacity and reliability of this freight transportation sector.”

For qualified applicants, RRIF Express “will significantly cut credit risk premium costs and advisor fees, costs that borrowers would otherwise have to pay in the traditional RRIF program,” USDOT said. Letters of Interest will be accepted beginning Jan. 12, 2020 and ending April 11, 2020.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity can be found here on the Bureau’s website.

“We’re so pleased that this administration is launching a serious and smart effort to make the RRIF program work for smaller operators,” said Chuck Baker, President of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. “Access to long-term, low-cost capital is a challenge in this industry, especially for railroads serving small-town America. RRIF can be an effective solution, but only if it can be reliably and quickly accessed; this express program shows great promise for meeting that need.”

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