‘A little mistake’: Idaho didn’t apply to study Boise-Salt Lake City rail service
It was painful for a coalition of leaders who have pushed to bring a passenger rail line back to Boise to hear, in December, that the federal government rejected Idaho for a grant to study the return of an Amtrak line. The coalition advocating for the Boise-Salt Lake City service had felt the region was well-positioned to receive the $500,000 grant.
What they heard was not what actually happened.
Instead, the Boise area missed out on the grant for a much simpler reason: The Idaho Transportation Department failed to apply for it.
In March 2023, the Federal Railroad Administration had two grants open online, and an ITD employee accidentally submitted the state’s application to the wrong grant portal, John Tomlinson, a spokesperson for ITD, told the Idaho Statesman. ITD’s failure to apply was first reported by BoiseDev.
“So they didn’t even look at it, they just disqualified it based on it not being in the right bucket,” Tomlinson said. “A little mistake there on the part of not submitting it correctly.”
While the grant would have given the region $500,000 to explore what the costs and infrastructure needs would be to bring back passenger rail between Caldwell and Salt Lake City, obtaining the grant would have made the area potentially eligible for much more money. Federal authorities expect to cover the majority of costs associated with the more detailed planning needed for agencies who received the grant, according to a copy of the grant.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the winning grantees on Dec. 8, kick-starting early steps of President Joe Biden’s $66 billion investment in passenger trains, which Congress approved.
Boise was not mentioned in the department’s news release.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, a leading member of the coalition pushing for trains, after the announcement spoke with the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, who indicated there had been a problem with the application, said Bre Brush, McLean’s transportation adviser.
Tomlinson said ITD officials had a meeting with the same administrator on Dec. 27, when the administrator confirmed that the application had been submitted incorrectly. Tomlinson said his agency did not inform the public about the error because the agency was trying to “figure out what the next steps are.”
“This was an error and we feel bad, but mistakes happen, we’re human,” Tomlinson said.
Madison Hardy, a spokesperson for Gov. Brad Little, emphasized that the state has not missed out on the opportunity for rail. The state can resubmit its application in the spring, she told the Statesman by email.
“Should the federal government approve it, Idaho will not have lost any ground in the potential for a plan to connect Amtrak from Boise to Salt Lake City just because we missed the first opportunity,” she said. “Idaho is committed to working with our partners and the federal government in seeking the planning grant funding in the coming months.”
Julie DeLorenzo, a member of the Idaho Transportation Department’s board, told the Statesman she’s confident “stop gaps” will be put in place “so that this problem doesn’t happen again.”
‘Where did our application go?’
Tomlinson said ITD is interested in applying for the grant again, and that officials hope to reinforce that staffers are “making sure they are putting the documents where they need to go” when they apply for grants.
Federal officials plan to reopen the same grant in 2025, and a spokesperson for Amtrak, a national passenger railroad company, told the Statesman the company continues to support bringing rail back to the Boise-Salt Lake City corridor. Leaders have yet to select what passenger rail company would provide the train service.
Brush, the mayor’s adviser who worked closely on the application with a consultant, said the problem with the application was initially confusing, prompting city officials to ask, “Where did our application go?”
She said because the region didn’t technically apply for the grant it wanted, it will not receive a formal debrief from officials explaining why it was not selected.
Brush said the city’s hope is to collect the money needed to complete the phase of planning the region missed out on in the next year, so that officials could again apply for the grant when it reopens in 2025.
“Of course it’s disappointing,” Brush said. She added that the city wants to position itself to be able to take advantage of any future funding opportunities, and that the city’s work on last year’s application has already laid the groundwork for a coalition.
“That’s not all for nothing,” she said.
