The Federal Railroad Administration is dishing out more money to smooth the flow of commerce:

• $960,000 to the New England Central Railroad (NECR) to extend the life of an 1860s rail tunnel in Burlington, VT by another 20 years.”The tunnel is located on a branch line of the railroad which has a critical rail interchange with the Vermont Railway that serves northern Vermont.”

• Another $2,746,240 to the NECR to help automate the NECR swing bridge across the Richelieu River near East Alburg, VT. “The project will improve railroad efficiency by reducing the time currently needed to manually operate the bridge and will facilitate an increase in commercial and recreational river traffic.”

•$129,431 to Portland & Western Railroad (PNWR) to help replace more than miles of track between Willamina and Whiteson, OR “with continuous welded rail capable of handling heavier rail car loads and accommodating higher train speeds” and to upgrade rail crossings.

• Another $1,386,766 to PNWR to help replace a 1.5-mile-long wooden bridge on the way to the steel bridge that crosses the Wilamette River near Albany, OR.

•$4.3 million to the city of Vicksburg, MS to “make significant improvements where the Washington Street highway bridge crosses over Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) tracks. The project involves constructing a tunnel for KCS trains above which the existing highway bridge will be removed and replaced with an at-grade roadway. As a result, heavy trucks can resume operating on Washington Street, KCS will straighten its right-of-way, and a new connector road will be built to accommodate the closure of the Lee Street highway-rail grade crossing.”

• $245,000 to the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad (BPRR) to replace the Chicora Bridge between Karns City and Bruin, PA, so that heavier rail cars can use the crossing.