Railroad Development — CFDA 20.314 obligation totals

Sixteen award rows carrying $554.6M

USAspending.gov attaches $554.6M in obligations to assistance awards tagged 20.314. Sixteen rows at more than half a billion dollars means individual lines on the hub are likely large relative to formula programs that mint thousands of awards. The packet still has no per-award amounts. Do not divide $554.6M by 16 and treat the quotient as a typical railroad-development grant. Amount-sort on the 16-row table is immediate.

No fiscal year is in the packet. The listing title is Railroad Development; the extract does not split passenger versus freight, or construction versus planning. This guide will not invent that split. If a corridor fact sheet cites a different federal total, match the CFDA number before adding that fact sheet to $554.6M. SpendingVault’s figure is this assistance listing only.

A 16-award file is small enough to read in a single sitting. That convenience is not a substitute for checking each row’s description field. Project phase, railroad name, and match rate are not in the four-field rollup. They may appear on award-level USAspending records; this page will not guess them.

15 recipients on a nearly one-to-one award file

Fifteen recipients hold 16 awards. That pairing is close to one award per identifier, with room for a single repeat. The packet does not prove that pattern and does not classify recipients as states, railroads, or authorities. Recipient count is distinct identifiers, not a count of stations or subdivisions.

Because 15 names fit on one screen, the program hub can be reviewed directly. Repeat appearance, if any, means the same identifier received more than one recorded award. It does not grade corridor performance. Downstream contracts with construction firms are not in this packet and are not inferred from the 16 assistance rows.

Nine states, a narrow rail geography

The extract counts 9 states. Railroad corridors cross borders; USAspending still assigns a state count from recorded location fields. The packet does not name the nine or split the $554.6M among them. Nine is a narrow footprint compared with nationwide formula listings. It is not a national rail map.

Place of performance for a state DOT award can be the capital even when track sits elsewhere. This packet does not say which location field fed the count of 9. Use the 16-row table for award-level geography. Missing states are not listed, so their absence is not explained here.

Development obligations are not train-miles run

Ridership, on-time performance, and track-mile inventories are different datasets. The $554.6M on CFDA 20.314 is federal assistance-award obligations. Mixing that sum with a capital-cost estimate from a corridor EIS would mix ledgers. SpendingVault keeps the USAspending commitment definition.

Outlays on rail construction can lag obligations by years. This extract does not report payments. Cite $554.6M as recorded commitments on 16 awards. Do not describe the sum as money already in a railroad’s construction account. Local or private match, if any, is not in the packet and is not added to the federal total.

Not a combined federal rail catalog

Other transportation assistance listings can sit near 20.314 on the all-programs index because their obligation totals occupy a similar band. Dollar proximity is not a shared corridor. Do not add this $554.6M to a different CFDA to build a homemade “all railroad grants” figure. Keep Railroad Development on its own catalog row.

Opening the 20.314 rows

The Railroad Development program page lists the 16 awards and 15 recipients behind $554.6M. The nine-state count will not name the jurisdictions; use award-level location fields. Agency pages are a different USAspending cut; this packet does not name the awarding agency, so the $554.6M stays on the CFDA card. Corridor brochures that omit 20.314 are not this extract. After checking a line, return to the all-programs index without merging neighboring transportation totals. Track-mile inventories remain a different dataset than this obligation rollup.

Questions

How much is obligated under Railroad Development CFDA 20.314?

CFDA 20.314 shows $554.6M in USAspending.gov obligations in SpendingVault’s extract. The figure is a sum of assistance-award commitments, not Treasury outlays and not a count of track-miles or riders. USAspending.gov obligations on CFDA 20.314 are recorded commitments, not Treasury outlays.

How many railroad-development awards are in the file?

The extract lists 16 awards and 15 recipients. Award count is a row count; recipient count is distinct identifiers. The packet does not classify those recipients as states, railroads, or authorities. USAspending.gov obligations on CFDA 20.314 are recorded commitments, not Treasury outlays.

Which states appear on CFDA 20.314?

The file counts 9 states but does not name them or split the $554.6M by state. Corridors can cross borders; USAspending state counts follow recorded location fields that this packet does not specify. USAspending.gov obligations on CFDA 20.314 are recorded commitments, not Treasury outlays.

Is $554.6M the amount already spent on rail projects?

No. Obligations are commitments. Outlays are payments. The $554.6M on CFDA 20.314 is the obligation total. Construction draws and match dollars are not in this packet. USAspending.gov obligations on CFDA 20.314 are recorded commitments, not Treasury outlays.