FY25 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA)
The summary for the FY25 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA) grant is detailed below.
This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants.
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If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the DOT - Federal Railroad Administration, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.
FY25 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA): Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) programs explore promising but unproven concepts with the potential to advance specific surface transportation systems. The Rail Safety IDEA program investigates innovative concepts and methods to improve safety and performance of railroads. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) endeavors to provide funding for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to continue to carry out the Rail Safety IDEA program. FRA funding for the Safety IDEA program has been provided since October 2002. FRA joined the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), as a joint sponsor of the Safety IDEA program. FMCSA has been funding the Safety IDEA program since the program started in October 2001. In 2013, the Rail Safety IDEA program has become completely independent and separate from the FMCSA; therefore, all projects funded by this Grant must be railroad related projects. The Rail Safety IDEA programs explore innovative concepts that are initiated and proposed by researchers, inventors, universities, or companies, both within and outside the usual transportation research community.
| Federal Grant Title: | FY25 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA) |
| Federal Agency Name: | DOT - Federal Railroad Administration (DOT-FRA) |
| Grant Categories: | Transportation |
| Type of Opportunity: | Discretionary |
| Funding Opportunity Number: | FR-RRD-25-002 |
| Type of Funding: | Grant |
| CFDA Numbers: | 20.313 |
| CFDA Descriptions: | Information not provided |
| Current Application Deadline: | August 22nd, 2025 |
| Original Application Deadline: | August 22nd, 2025 |
| Posted Date: | August 5th, 2025 |
| Creation Date: | August 5th, 2025 |
| Archive Date: | September 21st, 2025 |
| Total Program Funding: | $500,000 |
| Maximum Federal Grant Award: | $500,000 |
| Minimum Federal Grant Award: | $0 |
| Expected Number of Awards: | 1 |
| Cost Sharing or Matching: | No |
| Last Updated: | August 5th, 2025 |
- Applicants Eligible for this Grant
- Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification.)
- Additional Information on Eligibility
- The National Academy of Sciences is the only entity eligible to apply.
- Link to Full Grant Announcement
- FY25 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA)
- Grant Announcement Contact
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