There is probably FEMA money available to help with the rebuilding, even though it has been out-of-service for a long time. I recall Catskill Mountain RR applying for and being granted FEMA money when one of their long OOS bridges was washed out by a hurricane (and then the county in New York that owns the track turned the money down, out of spite apparently).

Isn't the present administration killing FEMA?

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

I recall reading an article about the Blue ridge southern in NC, that as of yet, they have not recieved any money to help rebuild their line after the hurricane damage in western NC last fall. I was actually pretty surprised by that, and maybe things have changed, or they will but still, for them not to recieve anything from FEMA etc is surprising.

wonder how insurance works in that regard? I don't think csx or ns have gotten any govt funding to rebuild their NC lines after damage either.

Can anyone provide information on exactly what FEMA is authorized to do and how much it is able to spend, particularly as it pertains to active and dead railroads? It would be a mistake to assume it provides large and even endless amounts of money for whatever one might wish.

I may have found the answer to my question.

https://www.aslrra.org/advocacy/disaster-relief/
Excerpt:
Disaster Relief
Short line railroads are generally not eligible for disaster relief funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

As I noted above, Catskill Mountain RR was granted $2.3 million in FEMA funding to repair damage caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011, but the county never disbursed it. viewtopic.php?p=205086#p205086

The caption on one of the photos in the linked post says "We have now returned to Phoenicia Station without the use of any of the $2.3 million of FEMA funding allocated to repairing the railroad after Hurricane Irene. This funding has been purposely withheld by our landlord, Ulster County, to coerce us into abandoning our Kingston operations." It may be that they received the FEMA money because their track is owned by the county, I'm not sure. Also, short lines connected to the national system are generally common carriers, which CMRR is not, it is basically a tourist attraction, but I'm not sure if that matters.

The Catskill Mountain's is neither a common carrier nor part of what is considered the general system.If I recall the funding was based on its being a tourist attraction rather than a transportation asset.

As far as Class II and III common carriers are concerned see below:

https://www.aslrra.org/advocacy/disaster-relief/
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr3782
The bill did not gain as much traction as we had hoped in the last Congress and I don't believe it has been re-introduced yet in this one. I suggest that all of you who see the need contact your congressional representative about either reintroducing or co-sponsoring.