East Lyme – Town officials said Wednesday they are taking “the next step” in efforts to bring a train stop to Niantic.

The Board of Selectmen voted Wednesday to apply for a state grant for a rail line capacity study of a potential train station in Niantic. The state completed a feasibility study for a Shore Line East train station in 2012.

“As you know, we are moving forward with trying to get a train stop in Niantic,” First Selectman Paul Formica told the board Wednesday. “It has gone through a feasibility study through the state of Connecticut and the DOT, so we feel it would make sense to go to the next step, and I noticed these grants were being made available.”

The application is for a Transit-Oriented Development Planning Grant Program grant through the state Office of Policy Management. The maximum award, which the town is applying to receive for the proposed Niantic Shoreline East railroad station capacity study, is $250,000.

Town Planning Director Gary Goeschel said the 2012 feasibility study indicated a capacity analysis and environmental review could cost upwards of $350,000, but the town is working with the Department of Transportation to get firm numbers on the cost of the capacity analysis.

The executive committee of the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments has supported the application, and the full membership of the council is slated to consider the application at its next meeting on Nov. 19, according to town officials.

— Kimberly Drelich