The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority will get $130 million in federal grant money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill for its nearly $400 million rail car replacement project. The project still needs approximately $50 million in funding, according to the GCRTA.
Last month, GCRTA’s board approved a plan to replace the 69 current heavy and light rail cars with about 60 high-floor light rail cars. The new cars can operate on any of RTA's rail lines, eliminating the need to maintain two separate fleets — heavy cars on the Red Line and light rail cars on the Green and Blue lines.
“Replacing the rail cars with approximately 60 new cars, providing immediate benefits to the people of Cleveland who rely on this rail system to get to work, to school, to medical facilities, for entertainment or just to stay connected," Federal Transit Administration Administrator Nuria Fernandez said.
She made the announcement at RTA's Rail Equipment Building Friday alongside U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
The transit authority’s current fleet is among the oldest in the country, Sen. Brown said.
“We all know in Cleveland these rail cars are all 40 years old," Brown said. "These rail cars are all older than the mayor of Cleveland, I can put it that way.”
The $130 million comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of the Rail Vehicle Replacement Program.
“We’re working together to make rail transit system in Cleveland safer and more reliable," Fernandez said.
The grant is the first of six to be given to transit systems across the country, Fernandez said.
"We are going to be providing just a little over $700 million to these six agencies in an effort to make sure that they can leverage those dollars with local commitments and start to chip away at that state of good repair that's been backlogged because of lack of funding," Fernandez said.
Replacing rail cars can be costly, Fernandez noted.
"We know that replacing a rail car is a big-ticket item, five million dollars plus each car," Fernandez said, "and you need multiple cars for a train set."
It's past time for GCRTA to have new cars, Fernandez said.
"They have truly surpassed their useful life, the end of their useful life," Fernandez said, "and they're among the oldest rail cars in use in the United States today."
Other funding came from local, state and federal agencies and GCRTA’s own Rolling Stock Replacement fund. The project will total $393 million. The new cars will be installed over a seven-year period.
