![Figure 1: Number and Dollar Amount of Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program Loans Approved, Fiscal Years 1998 through 2015, by Loan Type](https://www.infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/RRIF-loans.jpg)
Financing the various rail infrastructure projects will be challenging. Congress has not funded the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program—a program used to fund passenger rail projects—since fiscal year 2010 and appropriations to Amtrak have remained relatively steady at about $1.4 billion over the last 5 years. One potential source of funding is FRA’s Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program, which is a $35 billion loan and loan guarantee program to finance, among other things, freight and passenger rail facilities. Since program inception in 1998 about $2.7 billion in loans have been executed, and no loan guarantees have been made.
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