PUBLIC LAW 104-205—SEPT. 30, 1996 110 STAT. 2963 into an agreement with the Secretary to reimburse Amtrak and/ or the Federal Railroad Administration, on a dollar for dollar basis, up to the first $13,000,000 in damages resulting from the legal action initiated by the P&W Railroad under its existing contracts with Amtrak relating to the provision of vertical clearances between Davisville and Central Falls in excess of those required for present freight operations. GRANTS TO THE NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION To enable the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation authorized by 49 U.S.C. 24104, $565,450,000, to remain available until expended, of which $342,000,000 shall be available for operating losses and for mandatory passenger rail service payments, and $223,450,000 shall be for capital improvements: Provided, That funding under this head for capital improvements shall not be made available before July 1, 1997: Provided further. That none of the funds herein appropriated shall be used for lease or purchase of passenger motor vehicles or for the hire of vehicle operators for any officer or employee, other than the president of the Corporation, excluding the lease of passenger motor vehicles for those officers or employees while in official travel status. FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES For necessary administrative expenses of the Federal Transit Administration's programs authorized by chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, $41,497,000. FORMULA GRANTS For necessary expenses to carry out 49 U.S.C. 5307, 5310(a)(2), 5311, and 5336, to remain available until expended, $490,000,000: Provided, That no more than $2,149,185,000 of budget authority shall be available for these purposes: Provided further. That of the funds provided under this head for formula grants, no more than $400,000,000 may be used for operating assistance under 49 U.S.C. 5336(d): Provided further. That the limitation on operat- Urban and rural ing assistance provided under this heading shall, for urbanized areas. areas of less than 200,000 in population, be no less than seventy- five percent of the amount of operating assistance such areas are eligible to receive under Public Law 103-331: Provided further, That in the distribution of the limitation provided under this heading to urbginized areas that had a population under the 1990 census of 1,000,000 or more, the Secretary shall direct each such area to give priority consideration to the impact of reductions in operating assistance on smaller transit authorities operating within the area and to consider the needs and resources of such transit authorities when the limitation is distributed among all transit authorities operating in the area.
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