(JTA) — An agreement between the United States and France to establish a compensation fund for Holocaust survivors deported to Nazi camps via the French rail system went into effect.

The $60 million compensation fund established last December 2014 opened Sunday. The United States will administer and distribute the funds to eligible Americans, Israelis and other foreigners and their families who were not entitled to make claims under the existing French program.

“The agreement is another measure of justice to help those who suffered the harms of one of history’s darkest eras, and another example of the close U.S.-France partnership that characterizes our relationship,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement. “This fund will supplement the programs established by France for reparation and compensation of the victims of anti-Semitic persecutions during the Holocaust.

“In turn, the United States will ensure an enduring legal peace for France with regard to Holocaust deportation claims in the United States.”

SNCF, the railway which is owned by the French government, transported 76,000 Jews and other prisoners from the suburbs of Paris to the German border during the Holocaust from 1942 to 1944, where they were taken to Nazi death camps.

The railway says it has acknowledged the role that its wartime management played in collaborating with the Nazis and offered public apologies. It also has supported memorial efforts and Holocaust research in France.

Several U.S. state governments banned their local transportation services from contracting with SNCF, a major exporter of rail cars, until the reparations issue was resolved.

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