All Stations Accessibility Program awards $233m after $686m offer
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has selected eight All Stations Accessibility Program projects across five states for $232.83 million, 33.94% of the $686 million offered in March.
Where the money went
The $232.83 million total is the smallest of the program’s three published selection totals. Philadelphia and Chicago dominate the selection list, which the agency published on 10 September. SEPTA takes the single largest award at $80 million. The money covers elevators, raised platforms and wayfinding at its 22nd, 33rd and 36th Street trolley stations. Metra accounts for three of the eight awards and $68.19 million in total. Its share covers Hubbard Woods, Olympia Fields and the 111th Street station beside Pullman National Historical Park.
The Maryland Transit Administration receives $48.06 million for platform and passenger-crossing upgrades at the Martin State Airport and Metropolitan Grove MARC stations. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority gets $20 million for seven Green Line stations. In California, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which owns Caltrain, receives $14.15 million for 22nd Street station. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency takes a further $2.42 million for stops on the N Judah line. Together, the eight awards come to $232,827,000.
| Recipient | State | Stations covered | Federal funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority | PA | 22nd, 33rd and 36th Street trolley stations | $80,000,000 |
| Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority (Metra) | IL | Olympia Fields | $26,940,000 |
| Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority (Metra) | IL | Hubbard Woods | $23,500,000 |
| Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority (Metra) | IL | 111th Street, beside Pullman National Historical Park | $17,752,000 |
| Maryland Transit Administration | MD | Martin State Airport and Metropolitan Grove MARC stations | $48,064,000 |
| Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority | OH | Seven Green Line stations | $20,000,000 |
| Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board | CA | 22nd Street, Caltrain | $14,147,000 |
| San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency | CA | N Judah line stops | $2,424,000 |
| Total | — | Eight projects, six recipients, five states | $232,827,000 |
Six recipients share $232,827,000 in this selection, and the two largest recipients take more than half of it. Source: Federal Transit Administration, 2026 project selections.
Published selections account for a third of the advertised funding
The funding notice behind this competition appeared on 2 March. It offered $686 million through an initial combined announcement for the 2025 and 2026 funding rounds. Applications closed on 1 May, and FTA published the selections on 10 September. The selected projects total $232,827,000, or 33.94% of the advertised amount. The published selection list therefore does not account for $453,173,000 of that amount. Neither the selection list nor FTA’s announcement explains the difference or says whether additional selections will follow.
The wider arithmetic matters for anyone tracking the program. The 2021 infrastructure law provided $350 million for each fiscal year from 2022 through 2026, or $1.75 billion in total. Together, the program’s three published selection lists account for approximately $1.26 billion.
How the three published All Stations Accessibility Program selections compare
Each published selection total has been smaller than the one before it. The first list combined fiscal years 2022 and 2023. It distributed $686 million across 15 projects in nine states, and its largest single grant of $254.47 million went to New York’s MTA. The 2024 list then awarded $343 million to eight projects in eight states. The current selection page is labeled FY2026, while its funding notice covered the FY2025 and FY2026 rounds. It lists eight projects in five states.
Average grant size tells the same story. It fell from $45.7 million in the first published selection to $42.9 million in 2024. It now stands at $29.1 million. The current list contains no project identified as planning-only; its entries cover station improvements, rehabilitation or related capital work. Earlier selections included design and environmental studies costing as little as $1.4 million. The funding notice signaled this emphasis in advance by stating that FTA intended to prioritize capital projects over planning projects.
Familiar names, and some notable absences
Seven of the eight winning projects went to agencies that had already received money from this program. Only the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board is new to it. Maryland offers the clearest example. Its first published award provided $7.11 million for planning and environmental work at Martin State Airport station. The current selection provides $48.06 million for platform and passenger-crossing upgrades there and at Metropolitan Grove.
| Recipient | 2022–23 | 2024 | 2026 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority | $56,050,000 | — | $80,000,000 | $136,050,000 |
| Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority (Metra) | $66,600,000 | — | $68,192,000 | $134,792,000 |
| Maryland Transit Administration | $7,109,500 | $1,395,330 | $48,064,000 | $56,568,830 |
| Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority | $8,000,000 | $16,000,000 | $20,000,000 | $44,000,000 |
| Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board | — | — | $14,147,000 | $14,147,000 |
| San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency | — | $4,687,612 | $2,424,000 | $7,111,612 |
Only one of the six recipients in this selection is new to the program. A dash marks a selection in which the recipient received nothing. Railway Supply calculated the totals from the published selection lists for 2022–23, 2024 and 2026.
The absentees are equally telling. New York’s MTA received approximately $411 million across the two earlier selections, yet it is missing from the current list. So are New Jersey Transit, the MBTA and the Chicago Transit Authority. The awards to New Jersey Transit and the MBTA total approximately $252 million across the earlier selections. Their absence leaves the current funding concentrated on Philadelphia, Chicago’s commuter network and four smaller agencies in Maryland, Ohio and California.
The 2026 notice kept the tests of need and local financial commitment. It also asked applicants to describe benefits for families with young children, universal wayfinding and signage, opportunity-zone coverage, and steps that would accelerate project delivery. The department said it would also apply the principles of its economic-analysis order when evaluating applications and making award selections.
Cleveland finishes what two earlier grants started
Cleveland’s award completes a sequence rather than starting one. The authority received $8 million in the first published selection for East 79th Street station. A further $16 million followed in 2024 for eight Blue Line stations. The latest grant covers seven of the Green Line’s 11 stations. GCRTA says the entire rail system will be ADA-compliant once the work is complete.
There is a second reason for the timing. The platforms also need rebuilding for the authority’s incoming Siemens S200 fleet because the new cars are narrower than the vehicles they replace. Platform modifications are required to align them with the new vehicles. The authority’s $435 million replacement program covers 54 railcars. Revenue service is anticipated on the Red Line in summer 2027 and on the Blue, Green and Waterfront lines in summer 2028.
What comes next for suppliers
The funds must be obligated in grants no later than 30 September 2028, a deadline that will shape procurement and project schedules over the next two years. The federal share is capped at 80%, requiring recipients to provide matching funds. For suppliers, the work looks familiar rather than exotic. It covers elevators, raised and rebuilt platforms, tactile edge panels, ramps, sidewalk and parking alterations, and signage systems. SEPTA alone now counts eight station accessibility projects supported through the program, and its trolley work sits inside a much larger modernization effort.
