Opportunity Information: Apply for FR RRD 20 002
The FY20 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA) opportunity is a discretionary grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) designed to support early-stage, high-potential ideas that could improve railroad safety and overall system performance. It sits within the broader Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) family of programs, which focuses on testing and evaluating promising concepts that are not yet proven but could meaningfully advance surface transportation if the initial research or prototype work shows strong results. The central aim here is exploratory analysis: helping innovators generate the evidence, feasibility demonstrations, or pilot-scale validation needed to decide whether an idea is worth scaling into larger research, development, or deployment efforts.
This program is carried out through the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), with FRA seeking to provide funding so TRB can continue administering and advancing the Rail Safety IDEA portfolio. Historically, the Safety IDEA program had joint sponsorship involving the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), with FMCSA support dating back to the program's start in 2001 and FRA funding beginning in 2002. That arrangement changed in 2013, when the Rail Safety IDEA program became independent from FMCSA. As a result, projects supported under this specific grant must be railroad-related, with a clear connection to rail safety innovations rather than broader highway or motor carrier topics.
The opportunity encourages proposals that originate from a wide range of sources, including researchers, inventors, universities, and private companies, whether or not they are part of the traditional transportation research community. This reflects the program's intent to surface unconventional or novel approaches, including methods, tools, technologies, or analytical techniques that could reduce accidents, mitigate hazards, improve operational safety, or enhance railroad performance in ways that also strengthen safety outcomes.
Administratively, the funding opportunity is listed as "FY20 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA)" with opportunity number FR RRD 20 002 and CFDA number 20.313. The funding instrument is a grant under the transportation activity category. The notice indicates an anticipated single award, with an award ceiling of $400,000. The opportunity was created on May 26, 2020, and had an original application closing date of June 5, 2020. Eligibility is broadly described as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full eligibility text, signaling that nontraditional applicants may be able to compete depending on the details provided in the complete announcement.
In practical terms, this grant is meant to fund the kind of exploratory work that bridges the gap between a good idea and a credible case for further investment. Successful concepts would typically be those that can be investigated within a limited budget and timeframe while still producing concrete outputs such as proof-of-concept results, prototype demonstrations, early validation data, or well-supported feasibility findings that directly relate to improving railroad safety and performance.Apply for FR RRD 20 002
- The Department of Transportation, DOT - Federal Railroad Administration in the transportation sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY20 Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 20.313.
- This funding opportunity was created on May 26, 2020.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 05, 2020 No Explanation. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $400,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
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