Capital Investment Grants Program
Expanding high-capacity rail and bus services
CIG enables new systems and expansion of existing systems for high-capacity rail and bus services.
Capital Investment Grants (CIG) are used to support new and expanded high-capacity rail and bus service. The program includes New Starts for the construction of new systems and expansion of existing systems, Small Starts for projects with capital costs less than $400 million, and Core Capacity for projects that upgrade existing corridors to handle increased demand. Federal Transit Administration also supports the pilot program for Expedited Project Delivery for new high-capacity transit projects.
Each type of CIG project has a unique set of requirements in the law, although many similarities exist among them. To be eligible to receive a CIG construction grant, all proposed projects must go through a multi-year, multi-step development process outlined in the law. FTA is required to evaluate and rate CIG projects on statutorily defined project justification and local financial commitment criteria that differ by project type, and a project must receive at least a “Medium” overall rating to advance through the steps in the process and receive a construction grant award.
Learn about the Capital Investment Grant Program
