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Nevada Northern Railway Foundation seeks large CRISI grant to rebuild rail, Foundation estimates $98 million project
Summary
Nevada Northern Railway Foundation President Mark Bassett presented a Consolidated Rail Infrastructure & Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant plan on May 28, seeking about $73.6 million in federal funds toward a $98.1 million rail rehabilitation project and citing broad local and industry support; the foundation said it will pursue required cash match if the grant is awarded.
The Nevada Northern Railway Foundation presented a proposed $98.13 million rail rehabilitation project to the Ely City Council on May 28 and said it will apply for Consolidated Rail Infrastructure & Safety Improvements (CRISI) funding from the Federal Railroad Administration.
Foundation President Mark Bassett described a proposed funding stack with a federal request of $73,598,391, an in-kind match of $21,781,826 (about 22.5 percent) and a proposed cash contribution of $2,750,971 (about 2.8 percent) to bring total project match to 25 percent. "These are preliminary numbers, but the total project cost is $98,131,188.00," Bassett said.
Bassett said the foundation is preparing a package of support letters from federal, state and local officials and mining- and business-sector partners; grants.gov downtime means the foundation expects to submit before June 22, 2026, and anticipates awards in October. Bassett said the foundation has a contingency of $10 million in the estimate and that construction likely would not start until 2028.
Council members asked about cash-match commitments and fundraising strategy. Bassett said he intends to raise the cash match through the foundation and partner contributions, noting prior fundraising success: "Since I've been involved with the Railroad here I have successfully raised over $55 million."
The council received the update as an informational item; no formal city funding commitment was recorded during the meeting.
