§1165 Fire and Life Safety Improvements

Summary

Provides money for Amtrak to make fire and life safety upgrades in Northeast Corridor tunnels and sets rules for how that money is given. The Secretary of Transportation may give grants to Amtrak as follows: for the 6 New York and New Jersey tunnels $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, $45,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; for the Baltimore Potomac and Union Tunnels together $5,000,000 each year for fiscal years 2008–2011; and for the Union Station tunnels in Washington, D.C. $5,000,000 each year for fiscal years 2008–2011. In addition, $3,000,000 from funds provided under section 1153 must be made available in fiscal year 2008 for preliminary design work on a new Baltimore-alignment tunnel. The funds remain available until spent. The Transportation Secretary cannot release any grant money until Amtrak gives an approved engineering and financial plan and an approved project management plan for each project. The Secretary must approve or reject each plan within 45 days. If a plan is incomplete, the Secretary tells Amtrak what is missing and Amtrak has 30 days to fix it. The Secretary then has short, set review times for the fixes, must approve parts that are acceptable and fund them, tell Congress about any remaining problems, and make an agreement with Amtrak to resolve those problems. The Secretary must also consider other rail carriers that use the tunnels, look into having them pay part of the cost, and get contributions that match how much they use the tunnels if feasible.