New York Short Line Ontario Midland Wins $11.2 Million Federal Rail Grant

Ontario Midland Railroad will rebuild nearly ten miles of deteriorating track in Wayne County, New York, under an $11.2 million federal grant announced Oct. 19 by the railroad and U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. The money flows through the Federal Railroad Administration's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program, better known as CRISI, and anchors a broader effort to keep short line freight competitive with trucks across the upstate region.

For the agricultural and manufacturing shippers who depend on the line, the award addresses infrastructure that has been quietly aging out of reliable service. The Wayne County Mainline Safety and Reliability Project will replace approximately nine miles of rail, resurface eight grade crossings and replace seven turnouts while removing three others. Crews will also place new ballast, tamp it and re-surface the track.

What does the grant change for shippers?

The project's stated goals are concrete: modernize deteriorating infrastructure, improve freight transportation efficiency and support economic development in a county where farms and factories rely on the railroad to move heavy freight off the highway. The senators said the investments will strengthen regional supply chains, reduce truck traffic and cut fuel consumption for businesses that depend on freight rail.

Brian Pincelli, executive director of Wayne County Economic Development and Planning, framed the scope directly. "This funding will support comprehensive modernization of Ontario Midland Railroad's east-west corridor by replacing aging infrastructure with new rail and crossties," Pincelli said in the announcement.

Ontario Midland operates local freight service across Wayne and Monroe counties, including the eastern Rochester metropolitan area, and interchanges with CSX at Newark. That connection gives regional shippers a Class I reach for carload freight without trucking loads to a distant terminal. The railroad has served the region since 1979, according to the announcement.

How did the railroad's leadership respond?

Ontario Midland's top executives cast the award as a turning point for the 46-year-old carrier. "We are profoundly grateful to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand for their relentless advocacy and partnership in securing this critical 2025-2026 grant for the Ontario Midland Railroad," Chairman Robert Babcock and President Jeffrey Bauman said in a joint statement.

They did not stop at thanks. "This federal support is a game-changer for our operations, ensuring we can maintain safe, reliable service and continue driving economic growth across the communities we proudly serve," Babcock and Bauman said.

Where does the second grant fit in?

The award is one half of a larger federal commitment to New York short lines. Falls Road Railroad, a sister operation, received approximately $9.6 million to rehabilitate rail infrastructure along roughly 40 miles between Brockport and Lockport. That scope includes rail and tie replacement, bridge rehabilitation and resurfacing of six grade crossings, bringing the combined CRISI total for the two properties to $20.8 million.

Taken together, the two awards direct federal money at close to 50 miles of track serving communities west of Rochester. For short lines, which typically lack the capital budgets of Class I carriers, CRISI funding often determines whether branch-line speeds and carload weights hold steady or slide toward abandonment.

Work under the Ontario Midland grant is funded for the 2025-2026 period, and the pace of similar CRISI awards in future cycles will signal whether federal support for short line rehabilitation continues at scale.