SERVICES
UNICUS Rail and Consulting exists to serve our clients
by making their lives easier.
To that end, we offer expert consulting services in the following areas:
Planning and Coordination
For communities; coordination, collaboration, and cooperation are essential for successful programs and projects. A planning consultant can be invaluable in securing permissions for a project, especially if there is a need for coordination with local development codes and comprehensive plans. Also, a planning consultant can leverage relationships to ensure that your projects move forward smoothly. These efforts can be more complicated when they involve railroads, seaports, and other special transportation entities. UNICUS Rail and Consulting has years of experience in coordination with railroads, local governments, engineers, developers, realtors, seaports, nonprofit groups, and private citizens. Let us work with you to achieve successful outcomes for:
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Quiet Zone establishment and updates
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Railroad at-grade crossing openings and closures
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Railroad corridor improvement and consolidation
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Public facilitation and stakeholder involvement
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Railroad crossing and roadway database updates
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Easement acquisition
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Interagency coordination
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Intermodal planning
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Abandoned rail corridor planning
Project Management
Many communities and businesses need assistance managing projects to accomplish specific goals within certain parameters. UNICUS Rail and Consulting can partner with you to become an extension of your staff - freeing you up to focus on the “big picture” instead of the day-to-day problem-solving that is essential in managing projects. Subcontracting with UNICUS Rail and Consulting gives you the advantage of working with project managers that are experts with specialized skills and extensive experience who can implement the best practices for your project. By outsourcing individual project management responsibilities, you only pay for the hours and timeframe you need for the project reducing overall costs while increasing efficiency. Let us assist you in the following project management services:
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Beginning the project by defining the project goals and identifying all stakeholders
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Designing the scope, plan, budget, and individual roles
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Executing the project plan, adhering to the timeline, and solving any problems that arise
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Monitoring total costs and progress of the project
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Completing the project by satisfying all plan requirements and documenting the process
Grant Writing and Administration
Securing grants can be a necessary step in accomplishing significant project work. Often governments, companies, and nonprofit organizations lack adequate staff to write grant applications or administrator grants post-award. In this case, outsourcing the work is the smart choice for all parties. UNICUS Rail and Consulting can help you identify appropriate grant opportunities for your project needs and develop comprehensive and competitive grant applications to successfully obtain funding. Additionally, UNICUS will build consensus for the project by gaining support from local, state, and federal agencies as well as public and private stakeholders. We can further assist you by developing a grant management and administration process for managing all phases of the grant from start to finish. Let us develop a process that enables everyone involved to stay on track throughout the entire grant period by:
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Researching available grants, their application requirements, the terms of the award and any regulatory requirements
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Writing strong grant proposals that are clear and compelling while telling your story, so the application is relatable to the funder
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Working in partnership with all internal and external teams during the grant life cycle
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Acting as the primary point of contact for the grant including site visits and audits
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Guaranteeing that all grant reporting is accurate and timely
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Monitoring grant budgets and verifying that all expenses charged to the grant are accurate
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Ensuring compliance with all grant requirements
Transportation Safety Planning
The goal of Transportation Safety Planning is to reduce transportation injuries and fatalities through a comprehensive, proactive process that integrates safety into all aspects of surface transportation decision-making. Transportation safety plans should include projects and strategies to increase the safety of the transportation system for both motorized and non-motorized users. A safety plan can include immediate actions to take, future measures to plan for, communication methods to inform the public about risks and incidents, and important personnel to involve in safety decisions. To make the most significant impact on transportation safety planning it is important to involve all stakeholders in the planning process and project implementation. UNICUS Rail and Consulting can assist railroads, local governments, businesses, nonprofit groups, and private citizens in transportation safety planning by:
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Identifying potential transportation safety risks in communities and rail corridors and suggesting remediation
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Educating the public about transportation safety and potential risks
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Creating customized Safety Action Plans that identify potential hazards and outline safety procedures, rules, regulations, and mitigation steps
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Performing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) evaluations of compliance with applicable federal, state, and local accessibility regulations
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Seeking funding through grants and other sources to solve community transportation safety issues
