WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., announced the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $7,895,000 in grant funding to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for railroad infrastructure through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program.

“I was proud to advocate to Secretary Chao in support of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s application to receive a grant from the United States Department of Transportation’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program,” Casey said. “The $7 million award will be used to update outdated geographic information system technology used by railcars. It will seek to create an industry-standard technology to provide enhanced car location information and allow for a flexible platform to report on a continuous and current basis the condition of each freight car and its cargo. This transformative application of technology will improve safety, service and data for the thousands of rail freight customers across our country.”

The funding will be used for a project entitled, “Rail Pulse: The Realization of Railcar Location, Condition, Health, and Telematics Sensors on the North American Railcar Fleet,” which will develop a railcar onboard GPS sensor system to provide real-time information on railcar movements and condition to shippers, car owners and railroads. PennDOT partnered with GATX, Trinity Industries, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. and WATCO Companies, LLC.