Grants / Department of Transportation / DOT - Federal Railroad Administration

FR-RRD-26-001: FY26 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA)

Closed Closed July 20, 2026 Opportunity FR-RRD-26-001 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of DOT - Federal Railroad Administration notices from 2026.

• Award ceiling$500,000
• Total funding$500,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeGrant

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

The National Academy of Sciences is the only entity eligible to apply.

Is this a realistic fit?

• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) programs explore promising but unproven concepts with the potential to advance specific surface transportation systems. The Rail Safety IDEA program investigates innovative concepts and methods to improve safety and performance of railroads. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) endeavors to provide funding for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to continue to carry out the Rail Safety IDEA program. FRA funding for the Safety IDEA program has been provided since October 2002. FRA joined the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), as a joint sponsor of the Safety IDEA program. FMCSA has been funding the Safety IDEA program since the program started in October 2001. In 2013, the Rail Safety IDEA program has become completely independent and separate from the FMCSA; therefore, all projects funded by this Grant must be railroad related projects. The Rail Safety IDEA programs explore innovative concepts that are initiated and proposed by researchers, inventors, universities, or companies, both within and outside the usual transportation research community.

Category: Transportation.

We found no grant awards under Assistance Listing 20.332 in fiscal 2021 to 2025, which usually means the program is new or very small.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.