S. 2520 — All Aboard Act of 2025

This section defines 14 terms for purposes of the Act, including: (1) Administration (Federal Railroad Administration); (2) Administrator (FRA Administrator); (3) Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation); (4) electrification infrastructure (overhead wire in-motion charging technology, associated infrastructure, and battery electric technology for railyards and similar environments); (5) environmental justice community (community with significant representation of individuals of color, low-income individuals, or Tribal and Indigenous individuals that experiences or risks higher adverse health or environmental effects); (6) Federal-State Intercity Partnership program (grant program under 49 U.S.C. 24911(b)); (7) high-performance rail service (intercity passenger rail service designed to meet current and future market demand for capacity, travel times, reliability, and efficiency); (8) locomotive (as defined in 40 C.F.R. 1033.901); (9) MU locomotive (as defined in 49 C.F.R. 229.5, for electric and battery-electric multiple unit trains); (10) partnership applicant (as defined for "applicant" in 49 U.S.C. 24911); (11) Secretary (Secretary of Transportation); (12) State (any state, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, or Republic of Palau); (13) train (as defined in 49 C.F.R. 221.5); and (14) zero-emission locomotive (locomotive emitting no criteria pollutant, toxic pollutant, or greenhouse gas from any onboard power source, including propulsion).

This section establishes a formula grant program to award funds to states for developing state rail plans, operating rail service, and maintaining or expanding rail infrastructure, authorizing $3,500,000,000 over the five-year period beginning October 1, 2025, with a minimum of $5,000,000 annually per state and remaining funds apportioned based on existing and future rail service demand. Grantees must submit reports describing strategies to expand passenger rail service—including high-performance rail, new or existing routes, and routes under the Corridor Identification and Development Program (i.e., a program to facilitate intercity passenger rail corridor development through proposals, selection, and service plans)—and to electrify freight and passenger rail, with progress toward eight goals such as achieving zero-emission locomotives by 2047, zero emissions for 50% of trains by 2030 and all new trains by 2035, and rail capacity to serve significant freight and passenger movement on high-traffic corridors by 2050. Allowable uses include hiring staff, pooling funds for interstate projects, infrastructure improvements or construction, rail operations, and preparing competitive grant applications; the Federal Railroad Administration must provide technical assistance, in coordination with other agencies.

This section establishes the Green Railroads Fund, under which the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the EPA Administrator, may award competitive grants to eligible entities—including States, Amtrak, railroads, Indian Tribes, public utilities, and nonprofit labor organizations—to enable or improve electrified rail operations. Grant funds may be used for 10 specified purposes, including purchasing railroad lines and rights-of-way, rebuilding or acquiring electric locomotives and rolling stock, installing or improving electrification infrastructure, ensuring climate resilience, public engagement, and workforce training. Grant applications must include (1) a public engagement plan with online/print notices, meetings, and comment periods in relevant languages; (2) an environmental and public health plan for monitoring and minimizing stressors; (3) descriptions of wage and apprenticeship requirements; and (4) a workforce transition plan addressing skills gaps, insourcing, avoiding displacement, and collaboration with labor organizations. Funded projects must use project labor agreements and local hiring commitments and—for freight trains or light engines—require crews of at least two individuals, including one certified as a locomotive engineer under 49 U.S.C. 20135 and one as a conductor under 49 U.S.C. 20163. The Secretary must prioritize grants for projects reducing air pollution (e.g., particulate matter, nitrogen oxides) in environmental justice communities and expanding high-performance passenger rail; grant recipients also receive priority in other rail programs under the Act. This section further directs a study, due 180 days after enactment, on co-locating electric transmission with rail electrification infrastructure.

This section authorizes $80 billion for the Federal-State Intercity Partnership program for FY2026-FY2030 and amends the program (49 U.S.C. 24911) to (1) prioritize projects installing or upgrading infrastructure for high-performance passenger rail (i.e., speeds of at least 125 mph) along new or existing corridors and (2) require cost-benefit analyses to consider anticipated positive impacts of corridor electrification or future electrification readiness. This section authorizes $30 billion for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) Program for FY2026-FY2030 (49 U.S.C. 22907) and amends the program to (1) expand eligibility to Class I freight railroads for electrification projects that use project labor agreements, include enforceable local hiring commitments, comply with railroad employee protection requirements (49 U.S.C. 22404, which mandates fair arrangements preserving compensation, benefits, and rights for affected employees, negotiated by railroads and unions or prescribed by the Secretary of Labor), and partner with states, Amtrak, or other public entities; (2) add as eligible activities various zero-emission locomotive infrastructure projects (e.g., electrifying routes or yards, acquiring rights-of-way for future electrification, purchasing electrification equipment); (3) revise the application process to require workforce transition plans addressing skills gaps, insourcing operations, displacement avoidance, and collaboration with worker representatives, plus community engagement and hiring plans for electrification projects; and (4) prioritize grants for electrification infrastructure in environmental justice communities, freight yards/corridors, or along new/existing rail lines. This section authorizes $30 billion for Amtrak for FY2026-FY2030, of which $5 billion is for climate resilience projects addressing risks such as flooding, sea level rise, extreme storms, coastal erosion, and temperature extremes.

This section directs the EPA Administrator to establish a grant program under Clean Air Act §§103 and 105 (42 U.S.C. §§7403, 7405)—which authorize research, technical assistance, surveys, and grants related to air pollution prevention and control (§103) and grants to state and local air pollution control agencies for plan implementation (§105)—to address air pollution generated by railyards. It authorizes $500 million for such §105 grants for the five-year period beginning October 1, 2025.

This section applies labor grant conditions specified in 49 U.S.C. §§ 22905(a), (c), (d) and 22404, and imposes additional requirements, to assistance provided under the Act as follows: (1) deems persons conducting passenger rail operations or performing specified support work on funded rail infrastructure as rail carriers and employers solely for purposes of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974, Railway Labor Act, and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, subject to exceptions for construction industry employers authorized to use pre-hire agreements under NLRA § 8(f) (29 U.S.C. 158(f)) and contractors or subcontractors performing work consistent with rail collective bargaining agreements; (2) requires contractors and subcontractors on funded construction, alteration, or repair work to pay laborers and mechanics Davis-Bacon prevailing wages as determined by the Secretary of Labor; and (3) establishes the Passenger Rail Workforce Training Center within the consolidated workforce training program and directs the Administrator to establish the Freight Rail Workforce Training Center and a consolidated training program for freight rail personnel, both to provide standards-based training for maintenance and operations occupations in partnership with organized labor and nonprofit labor organizations including apprenticeships.