The Federal Railroad Administration issued $1.26 million in what it called Special Transportation Circumstances or STC grants on Aug. 6 to fund rural area rail capital projects in Alaska and Wyoming.

Those funds, made available by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, will aid in the deployment of the Terminal Wireless Communications Positive Train Control Project in Alaska and the Greater Junction Railroad Rehabilitation project in Wyoming, with the grants totaling $277,400 and $985,500, respectively.

“The funding will go a long way to addressing freight and passenger rail-related capital project needs in rural communities,” noted Ron Batory, FRA’s Administrator, in a statement.

The agency added that a total of $978,200 was set aside for South Dakota, but it did not submit an application for funding in response to the Notice of Funding Opportunity announced in February 2018. FRA added that South Dakota remains eligible to apply for this funding in a future NOFO.