THUD Funding is a Big Step Forward

The House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders on Dec. 23 approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Transportation & Housing and Urban Development (THUD) funding bill.  It included $21.2 billion for public transit and $16.6 billion for passenger and freight rail.

The full detail can be found in this Railway Age article where APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas commented. “This is a transformational investment in public transportation infrastructure that our country so desperately needs. These historic and generational investments will enable our communities to provide access to opportunities and create family-wage jobs, advance equity, tackle climate change, and meet growing and evolving mobility demands.”

 Here are some highlights of the funding bill that goes hand in hand with the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA). 

Public Transit

The THUD bill fully funds the public transit contract authority of $13.6 billion, as provided by the IIJA.  Covering a range of segments including, Capital Investment Grants (CIG) which has an array of programs: New Starts, Core Capacity projects, Small Starts, and Expedited Project Delivery.  Plus money for specific initiatives: Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Grants; Low-No Emission Bus Grants; Passenger Ferry & Rural Ferry Grants; & other designated public transit projects.

Passenger Rail

The THUD bill appears to provide $3.4 billion for passenger rail investments, including Amtrak grants, Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grants, and Intercity Passenger Rail grants

USDOT Programs

The THUD bill and IIJA provide $2.3 billion for competitive grants for surface transportation projects, including public transportation and multi-modal projects.

DTi Positive Outlook for Transit

There is a lot more detail of course but this funding increases the likelihood that USA transit and rail activity will remain strong despite the threat of a potential recession.  As a result, DTi is bullish on this sector and fully expects that there will be a need to expand the plant and personnel in key sectors from production to product development to engineering/technology and support.

DTi—Well Placed to Help in this Growth

At the last APTA Expo, transit OEMs in the US and worldwide told us they need three core parameters in their components safety, reliability, and performance which drive these key product attributes:

  1. Silicon or Thermo-Plastic Elastomers (TPE)
  2. Flame, Smoke, Toxicity (FST) Compliance
  3. Metal Reinforcement

DTi’s protection products meet these needs:

FST Compliant – Safety

a) Seal-Fast Silicone seals improve overall fire safety:

  • High fire and smoke resistance and self-extinguishing
  • FST compliant with EN 45545-2 & US NFPA standards

2. b) Spring-Fast SL-FST grommets TPE encapsulation:

  • Flame retardant, low smoke and toxicity
  • FST compliant with EN 45545-2 & US NFPA standards

Spring-Fast SL Series

 

Silicone or TPE – Performance

a) Silicone:

  • Seal-Fast™ is steel reinforced, flexible, durable, with high tear strength and a strong grip.
  • Low compression set recovers its shape post compression e.g., transit doors.
  • Resistant to adverse weather, UV, & ozone. Indoors or out

b) Thermo-Plastic Elastomers (TPE)

  • Spring-Fast® Grommet TPE Encapsulation material is resistant to weather conditions, UV, & ozone.
  • FST compliant with EN 45545-2 & US NFPA standards.

Seal-Fast Silicone Series

Metal Reinforced – Reliability

  • Spring-Fast® Grommets an encapsulated steel core that outperforms nylon grommets & cuts install costs 49%
  • Seal-Fast™ Silicone seals are reinforced with steel/stainless steel wire, improving strength and grip.

Transit OEM design engineers are increasingly adding these components to their e-books/internal design guides.

Find out more about Spring-Fast SL-FST

Find out more about Seal-Fast Silicone

Request free samples here

Other DTi flame retardant protection products include Protect-Fast sleeving and  Fast-Drop fiber radius control modules (cable waterfalls), See below.

PFA-NMX Wire Install