FRA oversees, coordinates, and participates in both railroad systems planning and project planning efforts through which railroad capital projects and services are identified and advanced to support toward future implementation. 

SYSTEMS PLANNING

Systems planning is a high-level planning process that considers creating new transportation services as well as enhancing and maintaining existing transportation systems. This planning process promotes a safe, efficient, and comprehensive rail system within the multi-modal national transportation system. At its core, systems planning examines broad needs, challenges, and opportunities that can be addressed with a transportation-related solution, including capital projects. 

A government agency (e.g., a state department of transportation, authority, commission, or interstate-compact), railroad, or private entity may identify the need for a project through its systems planning processes. Systems planning involves analyzing empirical data to identify rail transportation needs and developing strategies and projects to meet these needs. Project Sponsors may, for example, accomplish systems planning through a railroad capital planning process, or through preparation of a regional rail study or State Rail Plan. Some projects may have multiple purposes and be identified through other highway or transit planning processes. The systems planning process should identify specific projects to address documented needs, challenges, and opportunities. 

Comprehensive systems planning for a regional passenger rail network considers links with other transportation modes for safe, seamless, integrated transportation to carry travelers from origin to destination within and between megaregions. Comprehensive systems planning for freight movement considers how freight volumes and commodities move through the general rail system and are interconnected to other modes of transportation.
Systems planning encompasses multi-state regional planning, corridor planning, and project identification.

PROJECT PLANNING

Project planning is the first development stage of a project when the Project Sponsor identifies capital project concepts to address transportation needs and opportunities. Project planning aims to identify and compare the costs, benefits, and impacts of project options to provide private and government decision-makers with information to achieve transportation solutions. For railroad projects that may be used by multiple operators (i.e., "shared infrastructure"), the Project Sponsor should consider and coordinate the needs of the various operators during project planning. FRA encourages Project Sponsors to identify potentially impacted environmental resources and engage with interested parties, six agencies, and the public to link project planning to the subsequent environmental review process early on.

Project Planning Objectives: A primary goal of project planning is to develop concepts that establish the type and scope of capital improvements that best meet the goals and objectives identified in systems planning. Project planning elements may include railroad transportation market forecasting, operations analysis, fleet planning, station and facility planning, cost analysis, environmental resource consideration, resilience planning, and financial and economic analysis. Public disclosure of potentially impacted environmental resources and engagement of potentially affected communities, Indian Tribes, and the public, as part of project planning, can allow for linking project planning to the subsequent environmental review in project development. In successful project planning, the Project Sponsor identifies one or more design concepts to advance during the project development stage. Key elements of project planning include: 

• a description of the transportation needs and opportunities for the project; 
• the goals and objectives, including environmental factors, that the Project Sponsor used to assess the performance of design concepts; 
• conceptual engineering and other design that defines project concepts; 
• consideration of avoidance, minimization, and mitigation of potential environmental effects on the natural and human environment resources; and 
• an evaluation of how the design concepts meet the goals and objectives, considering capital and operating cost implications, and whether they have stakeholder support and a rationale for implementation.

Project planning involves identifying a project’s purpose and need, conceptual engineering, considering alternatives, and stakeholder engagement.