Here are the underlying facts behind each of the important points made in the FRA letter. (The earlier grant was only for preliminary planning and design.) It hasn’t happened. Once that finding was received, the City would be clear to seek grant funding for construction of the station. NEPA requires a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) that indicates a project will not cause environmental harm before Federal funding can be applied to projects. The City has been in long discussions with the FRA in an effort to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. Mayor Christopher Taylor, who has been a major cheerleader for the station, predicted in early 2018 that the City of Ann Arbor would receive a go-ahead from the FRA by the end of 2018.
Therefore, FRA is discontinuing the development of the EA and does not intend to complete the environmental process at this time. 
In addition, the City’s preferred station design exceeds intercity passenger rail needs. The cost is high because the City’s preferred location for the station is constrained and the City is proposing a substantial amount of parking, requiring the station to be located over the tracks. However, as FRA previously informed the City, the cost estimate for the City’s preferred project is an order of magnitude higher than other new intercity passenger rail and multimodal stations for which MDOT was awarded Federal funding by FRA to construct. They were written in paragraph form but placed in bullets here, emphasis added. Ironically, it was directed toward a man who was no longer there – Tom Crawford, our recently deposed City Administrator. The letter from the Federal Railroad Administration, dated August 11, 2021, must have arrived at City Hall with the force of an earthquake. Neumann-Smith rendering of proposal parking structure on left, station to right (gable)
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