Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Senator Daniel K. Akaka, U.S. Representative Mazie K. Hirono and U.S. Representative Colleen Hanabusa released a statement saying the Obama Administration requested $250 million for the Honolulu Rail Transit Project for fiscal year 2013, the largest amount for any rail project in the country.The money would come from the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today praised President Obama’s $74 billion budget for the U.S. Department of Transportation saying the funds will lay a new foundation for economic growth and competitiveness by investing in a national infrastructure network, building on recent safety achievements and modernizing transportation systems through research and innovation.
Collins Engineers, Inc., a Chicago civil and structural engineering firm, received an Honor Award in the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois (ACEC-IL) Engineering Excellence Award competition for the EJ&E Bridge Roll-In design.
Class 1 railroad budgets are gearing up for another robust year and the engineering side of the industry is set to benefit. Last year saw the completion or progression of several expansion projects and 2012 looks to continue that trend. Expansion isn’t the only aim of these projects; railroads are continuing their commitment to renewing existing infrastructure. Crosstie, rail and bridge rehabilitation and replacements look to have another great year in 2012.
In our annual RT&S survey, we asked all the major railroads for a breakdown of their expected spending over the next year. In addition to the information gathered in our survey, supplemental sources such as industry association presentations and general reporting were used to develop the most accurate picture of the 2012 engineering forecast. All dollar figures should be read as estimates and are subject to change.
RT&S thanks all those who responded to the survey.
Amtrak’s engineering budget will see a slight increase to $483 million in 2012 from the $476 million budgeted in 2011. Amtrak’s C&S budget for 2012 is more than three times what its 2011 budget was, $42.8 million versus $13.1 million. One reason Amtrak will see a jump in its C&S budget is that the railroad intends to complete installation of Positive Train Control technology on a section of Amtrak-owned tracks along the Northeast Corridor by the end of 2012, which is three years ahead of the federally mandated deadline.
In addition to the PTC installation, Amtrak plans to move forward on several infrastructure improvements along the NEC. Close to $15 million will be spent for planning and other pre-construction activities on its Gateway Program; design, engineering and other pre-construction activities will advance on a project to upgrade speeds along a 24-mile section of the NEC between Trenton and New Brunswick, N.J.; construction will continue on the Niantic River Bridge replacement and work will continue on a multi-year project to replace track in all four of Amtrak’s East River tunnels that access New York Penn Station.
Amtrak plans to lay 153,000 rail feet of new rail, surface 600 miles of track and install 99,458 crossties, which includes 29,000 wood ties and 76,258 concrete ties.
“Amtrak is building the equipment, infrastructure and organization needed to ensure our strong growth continues into the future. We are investing in projects critical for enhancing the passenger experience, essential for supporting our national network of services and vital for the future of America’s railroad,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman.
BNSF plans a 2012 capital commitment program of approximately $3.9 billion, a $400 million increase over its 2011 capital spend of $3.5 billion.
The largest component of the capital plan is spending $2.1 billion on BNSF’s core network and related assets. The program also includes about $300 million for PTC and $400 million for terminal, line and intermodal expansion and efficiency projects. BNSF’s expansion and efficiency projects will be primarily focused on coal routes to improve velocity and throughput capacity and the new intermodal facility at Kansas City.
On the maintenance side of things, BNSF plans to lay 875 track miles of rail relay; install 3,518,000 ties of which 3,426,000 will be wood and 92,000 will be concrete; perform 600 miles of production ballast undercutting and 5,080 miles of production shoulder ballast cleaning and complete 140 bridge rebuilds including three major projects in Galveston, Texas, Burlington, Iowa and Plattsmouth, Neb.
In 2012, Canadian National plans to invest approximately C$1.75 billion (US$1.74 billion) in capital programs, which is up slighting from C$1.71 billion (US$1.70 billion) in 2011. Out of the 2012 budget more than C$1 billion (US$997 million) will be targeted on track infrastructure to maintain a safe and fluid railway network.
The railroad plans to lay 345 miles of new rail, install 1.6 million wood ties and 78,000 concrete ties.
In addition, the railroad will invest in projects to support a number of productivity and growth initiatives. These include speed/capacity initiatives, continued integration of the EJ&E, reconstruction of Kirk Yard, progress the AMT Infrastructure Program in Montreal, continued construction of the Calgary Logistics Park and several bridge projects.
Bridges will continue to be a large part of CN’s plan in 2012 with work scheduled to continue on the Dubuque River Bridge, Oshkosh Bridge and Fraser River Bridge, along with 17 additional bridge strengthening and rehab projects, as well as another 70 bridge replacements.
Canadian Pacific will increase the amount it spends on engineering in 2012 to $1.125 billion, up from $1.104 billion in 2011. The railroad plans to spend approximately $650 million on basic replacement capital and $33.2 million C&S expenses.
CP plans to lay 73,800 net tons of new rail, which is down slightly from the 85,600 net tons that was laid in 2011. Relay rail is up with an estimated 38,900 net tons to be installed in 2012 from the 34,400 net tons in 2011. Crossties also are expected to be slightly less with 862,000 wood ties in 2012 versus 910,000 wood ties in 2011 and 3,200 miles of track will be surfaced up from 2,650 miles in 2011.
CP will continue to rerail the North Line between Portage La Prairie, Manitoba and Wetaskiwin, Alberta in Canada, as well as bridge work including replacement of pile trestles on the DM&E acquired properties.
In 2012, CSX plans to install approximately 3.2 million crossties, lay 540 track miles of rail, surface 5,800 track miles, replace 18,000-20,000 bridge ties and perform approximately 50,000 welds.
The railroad continues to work toward the 2015 deadline for the PTC mandate. In 2011, CSX hired an additional 300 C&S employees and replaced more than 250 miles of obsolete signal equipment and equipped more than 1,000 locations with PTC communication solutions.
CSX continues to progress on its National Gateway Project with eight out of 10 tunnels under construction as part of Phase 1. Phase 2 and 3 of the project consists of 21 obstructions to clear with a target completion date of 2014. In 2012, CSX plans two overhead bridge removals, two track lowerings and two thru-truss bridge modifications. The railroad will also keep busy in 2012 with various new terminals and terminal expansions under construction including ones located in Worcester, Mass., Westborough, Mass., Winter Haven, Fla., Columbus, Ohio, Charlotte, N.C., and Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada.
The railroad’s central Florida capacity improvement projects are also expected to progress in 2012 and included 15 project locations, more than 51 miles of new upgraded track and more than 150 miles of new signal system upgrades.
CSX will also continue to work on the Chicago-area CREATE project, perform 20-25 miles of capacity construction and work on a number of passenger projects.
Kansas City Southern estimates its engineering budget to be $382.8 million in 2012 up from $366.6 million in 2011. On the C&S side of things, KCS plans to spend $21.5 million in 2012 up from $17.6 million in 2011 and the railroad will spend an additional $20.7 million on PTC-related expenditures not included in the 2012 C&S estimates.
KCS will lay 17,212 net tons of new rail in 2012. The railroad laid 35,285 net tons of rail in 2011, but that number includes a one-time stimulus-funded rail relay project of the Gulfport to Hattiesburg, Miss., line of approximately 63 miles. The railroad will put down 3,588 net tons of relay rail in 2012 as compared to 3,440 net tons in 2011.
On the crosstie front, KCS will install an estimated 927,500 ties in 2012, which includes 736,000 wood ties and 138,000 concrete. In 2011, the railroad installed 690,067 wood ties and 150,073 concrete. KCS will also surface 6,183 track miles this year, as compared to 6,009 track miles last year.
Norfolk Southern unveiled a total capital improvement program of $2.4 billion in 2012, which is a 12 percent increase over 2011 numbers.
“The majority of our capital spending is targeted towards strengthening the franchise,” said Deborah H. Butler, chief financial officer during NS’ fourth-quarter 2011 earning conference.
The engineering budget for 2012 is estimated to be at $1.491 billion up slightly from the $1.424 billion in 2011. NS will lay 82,083 net tons of new rail and 25,259 net tons of relay rail this year up from 75,438 net tons of new rail and 20, 538 net tons of relay in 2011. The railroad will install 2,508,000 wood ties, which is about the same number as 2011. NS will install 322,000 relay ties, down from 409,817 in 2011 and surface 5,480 track miles, which is approximately the same number of miles as 2011.
NS will move forward on several major projects in 2012 including expansion of the Bellevue, Ohio, yard, the replacement of intermodal terminal bridges above 51st Street in Chicago and continuing construction of several intermodal terminals located at Birmingham, Ala., Memphis, Tenn., Greencastle and Harrisburg, Pa., and Charlotte N.C.
NS also plans to spend an estimated $487.6 million in C&S capital and operating expenses in 2012, of which $231.7 million has been included for PTC. The C&S numbers are up significantly from $321.4 million in 2011, which included $75.1 million for PTC.
Union Pacific’s projected $3.6 billion 2012 capital spend is the largest in company history. In 2011, UP invested $3.2 billion in total capital. In 2012, UP plans to spend $1.92 billion, which is 53 percent of the total number, on replacement capital. This includes approximately 4.3 million ties, replacing approximately 1,000 miles of rail and surfacing 4,369 miles of track. The railroad also plans to spend $335 million, which works out to nine percent, on PTC.
In a prepared statement, UP said that by 2035, railroads are expected to carry 38 percent more cargo than they do today. To set the railroad up to handle this kind of future volume, UP has several key growth projects underway in 2012.
In the Northern Region, UP plans to construct a second mainline at Blair, Neb., upgrade signaling and switching systems on the UP West Line in Chicago and continue ongoing CREATE projects to improve freight and passenger rail traffic flow in Chicago. In the railroad’s Southern Region, siding projects and double tracking will progress in Texas and Louisiana, terminal improvements are planned in the San Antonio, Dallas-Forth Worth, Houston and south-central Louisiana areas and enhancements will be put in place on the Eagle Pass and Laredo gateway routes to Mexico. UP’s Western Region will see continued double tracking of the Sunset Route in Arizona, construction will continue on the Santa Teresa, N.M., intermodal and fueling facility and siding extensions and terminal improvements are planned in the Pacific Northwest.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency received a letter granting federal approval to proceed with a key component of the Central Subway Project. The approval, a letter of no prejudice from the Federal Transit Administration, allows the SFMTA to commence work that will prepare the 1.7-mile project alignment for tunneling and station construction.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, in a meeting with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and local business leaders, affirmed the commitment to California high-speed rail and discussed how investments in high-speed rail are essential to keeping California’s economy moving.
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation received permission from the Federal Transit Administration to move forward with the next phase of construction of Oahu’s rail system.
Missouri transportation officials approved a project that will remove the last single-track bottleneck on the Union Pacific line between Jefferson City and St. Louis, Mo. The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded a contract for a new railroad bridge over the Osage River to OCCI, Inc., a construction company based in Fulton, Mo. When completed, the new bridge will significantly improve freight and passenger rail service.
Amtrak is requesting $450 million in federal operating support for fiscal year 2013, a lower amount than the $466 million appropriated by Congress for FY 2012. The ability to seek reduced federal operating funding results from ongoing efforts by Amtrak to improve its financial performance, including increased efficiency, cost controls and debt reduction as well as better service, record ridership and anticipated increases in revenue.
BNSF plans a 2012 capital commitment program of approximately $3.9 billion, a $400 million increase over its 2011 capital spend of $3.5 billion.
The Association of American Railroads said the nation’s major freight railroads are projected to invest a record $13 billion in capital expenditures in 2012 to expand, upgrade and enhance the nation’s freight rail network. The freight railroads also expect to hire more than 15,000 employees this year, replacing retiring workers and adding new positions nationwide.
The $1.3 billion SunRail project in central Florida broke ground on Friday, January 27, 2012, at the future home of the Altamonte Springs station, located at the intersection of Ronald Reagan Boulevard and State Road in Seminole, Fla.
Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco, Calif., is continuing its work of earthquake safety strengthening of the Transbay Tube, which was not damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake but remains BART’s top earthquake safety priority.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s reconstruction of its Piedmont & Northern Rail Corridor in Gaston County, N.C., will be significantly completed by February 20, 2012. This will allow operation of trains over the corridor for the first time in more than 20 years. Patriot Rail will provide freight rail service to customers over the line.
U.S. Congressmen Jim Moran and Gerry Connolly and Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner said the Department of Transportation has awarded nearly $116 million funding for construction of Phase 1 of the Dulles Metrorail project in northern Virginia.
Norfolk Southern has cleared the way for more double-stack intermodal trains to use its Heartland Corridor with the opening this week of a newly improved double-stack rail line between Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. The Heartland Connector will reduce transit times by one to two days and increase service reliability for double-stack freight traveling to and from the Port of Virginia and Cincinnati and Detroit.
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, in joint partnership with the Buckhead Community Improvement District, Georgia Department of Transportation, State Road and Toll Authority, Federal Transit Administration and the city of Atlanta, is preparing to begin construction in the spring on a pedestrian bridge to reconnect the east and west sides of the Buckhead community.
When Hurricane and then Tropical Storm Irene rode along the East Coast of the United States in late August 2011, reactions to the damage ranged from shocking in the southeast to bullet dodging in New York City. By the time the storm blasted into Vermont on Aug. 28-29, 2011, winds had died down, but the amount of rain that fell unleashed some of the worst flooding the state had experienced in decades. For Vermont Rail System and New England Central Railroad, the storm left the shortlines with track sections hanging in mid air, compromised bridges and shut down both railroads for close to three weeks.
While it’s not unusual for hurricanes and tropical storms to affect the New England Central, according to Charles Hunter assistant vice president of government affairs for RailAmerica, which owns and operates the NECR, the south end of the system located in Connecticut and Massachusetts has been the focus of storms over the past 10 years. In order to prepare for Irene’s impact, Hunter says NECR halted both freight and Amtrak passenger operations prior to Irene’s arrival.
Over on Vermont Rail System, employees were on standby the day of Irene’s arrival. Charlie Lemieux, VRS superintendent of maintenance-of-way, described the preparation as a bit of a waiting game to see what the storm would do. VRS ran patrols in front of trains until waters became overwhelming, operations stopped and employees were pulled off the line for safety.
“As far as any other prep work, there wasn’t much to do until the storm left and we saw what we were dealing with,” said Lemieux.
Both railroads were left to deal with extensive damage. Between the two railroads, there were close to 150 washouts, six compromised bridges and nearly 35 miles of track that had been destroyed.
“NECR had washed out road bed with the rails and ties suspended in mid air, we had bank slides as deep as 50 feet below where the track use to be, mud slides and trees came down over the right-of-way and, while we did not lose any bridges, we had some bridges where the head walls and the piers were affected,” said Hunter.
Lemieux said the Green Mountain Railroad (GMRC), part of VRS, received the worst damage between Rutland, Vt., and Bellows Falls, Vt., where a few bridges were off their abutments and more bridges were lost between Rutland and Hoosick Junction, N.Y.
“We had approximately six miles of track that was totally undermined and washed out and we had at least 15 miles of track that was underwater that we could not access until the water subsided,” said Lemieux.
Once the water receded, Lemieux said only seven miles of track out of the 15 were a total loss and the rest of the damage consisted of superficial washes.
For NECR, the damage was especially painful to discover as the shortline was in the middle of a large improvement project for Amtrak’s Vermonter line. The high-speed rail improvements had just been completed about a month before Irene’s arrival and included installation of continuously welded rail, new crossties, highway-rail grade crossing safety improvements and other track improvements.
“The low point was assessing all the damage, that was pretty depressing,” said Rick Boucher, assistant general manager for NECR, “Especially after a large project where everything had looked so good and then basically, overnight was destroyed.”
“We had brand new cwr hanging in mid air,” said Hunter, “The good news is that because we had installed the rail and installed new ties or re-spiked the ties we were keeping, most of the elements stayed intact even though they were hanging in mid air.”
Post storm, both railroads were shutdown to thru traffic. VRS required an assessment by helicopter after the storm and determined priority to be opening the Green Mountain Gateway between Rutland and Bellows Falls. NECR divided the repair effort into four zones, a plan developed by RailAmerica’s director of structures Bill Riehl and director of engineering Ron Marshall after they completed an on-site assessment of the damage. The worst, zone 3, located in the Roxbury and Braintree Vt., area also dubbed the Red Zone. Work began in zones 1 and 4 and progressed toward the Red Zone.
“We worked toward the Red Zone because we knew access to it would be difficult,” said Boucher. “The plan was to attack [the damage] from each end with the anticipation that by the time we got to the Red Zone, some of the roads would be opened up enough that we could begin to truck some material in and we could bring material in by rail as well, if we had zones 1, 2 and 4 done.”
Access problems due to many roads in Vermont having been washed out by the storm were an issue for both NECR and VRS.
“With anything of this magnitude, there will always be little quirks that will happen along the line that we try to overcome,” said Lemieux. “The biggest one was trying to get the aggregate material to the different locations. A lot of locations were not road accessible and the roads were washed out. It was difficult to get the material to the job sites where it needed to be.”
“We had to actually construct roads to reach our right-of-way to conduct repairs,” said Hunter. “We worked with the local farmers and land owners to get their permission to build roads into those areas and everyone was great to work with. Vermont Agency of Transportation issued a 30-day suspension of environmental permitting for railroad repairs and road repairs, so we were able to get in to do the necessary repairs without the permitting process.”
Once access issues were resolved, the real repair work began and on VRS, bridge repair was a focus.
“On the GMRC there was no traffic because we had a bridge in Proctorsville, Vt., that was off it’s abutment and one in Arlington, Vt., and there were no trains running until we got all bridges safe to run over,” said Lemieux. “One particular contractor that was outstanding was Engineers Construction, Inc., they did a wonderful job for us. We had them concentrating on bridges. Some of the abutments were gone and one bridge, 114, was at a tilt of about 30 some odd degrees.”
Lemieux said that in order to repair the bridge, which was recently completed, the contractors drove pilings down and made a new bridge seat. Heavy-duty cranes were brought in to move the bridge onto temporary pilings so traffic could travel over it before final repairs could be made and the structure was placed on new bridge seats.
NECR had to deal with a lot of holes left by washouts. Dealing with larger holes threatened the shortline’s aggressive recovery schedule.
“At one point, we thought we were falling behind, but once we got through a few critical areas, we made up time,” said Boucher. “We had one area with three large holes, basically a whole curve was just gone with one section of track left in the middle, but the track itself was over a bank and there was just subgrade left. Three large holes had nothing, no subgrade everything was gone. We had to start from the bottom. Some of those holes were 25-30 feet deep and they ranged from five to 800 feet long.”
Boucher also notes the NECR’s bridge contractors, Osmose Railroad Service, Inc., and Engineers Construction, Inc., were responsible for keeping to the repair schedule.
“Initially, we thought it would be Sept. 23 before the bridge work would be completed. Those contractors did a heck of a job to beat their own initial estimates also,” said Boucher.
The shortlines were not alone in their recovery effort. Aid came from the region’s other shortlines, contractors and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. ASLRRA put out an All Points Bulletin for dump cars and both the NECR and VRS said they received a good response from neighboring railroads.
“Railroads are an interesting industry in that not only do we compete with each other but we also cooperate with each other for certain freight movements,” said Hunter. “Generally speaking, the railroads in New England are very response-oriented. When somebody has a problem, the other railroads will help you out.”
It took three weeks for both shortlines to transition between storm-ravaged to back in business. VRS dumped 60,000 tons of rip rap and on the NECR, 15,000 tons of ballast was dumped, 12,500 feet of damaged right-of-way was repaired and all but a small section of new cwr was able to be placed back into service.
Lemieux and the rest of the VRS team were happy with the accomplishment of a quick and thorough recovery effort.
“We had many meetings on it and we came up with a date that we wanted to hit, it could have been a long shot, but that’s what we wanted, we are very proud that we were able to do that,” said Lemieux. “We dealt with a lot of little issues, but the main motivator was that our customers were not receiving their commodities. We were very much customer-oriented to get us up and going because once we’re going, we can help Vermont get up on its feet.”
The engineering department at NECR originally aimed for the railroad to be back in service on Sept. 23. The first train was run on the entire line on Sept. 20, three days ahead of the goal.
“It was a collective effort by everyone, good planning, a lot of support and cooperation from the contractors,” said Boucher. “As we got into that Red Zone, things started going faster than anticipated. We thought we were really going to struggle with accessibility and the repairs actually went a lot quicker than we thought.”
For their efforts to recover from Irene, both railroads were awarded the Herb Ogden Award for Rail Advocacy from the Vermont Rail Action Network.
The last piece of the puzzle is to figure out how to cover the multi-million dollar price tag associated with Irene’s damage. Because Vermont owns the line VRS operates on, the repair effort is eligible for FEMA funds. However, NECR, as a privately owned entity is not eligible, leaving only the Federal Railroad Administration’s Disaster Relief Fund for financial aid.
“There is no money in that fund,” said Hunter. “We’re trying to get that funded, which would not only help our railroad but other railroads in the northeast that sustained damage.”
Waiting around for monetary relief is not something either railroad is doing, as they are both still involved in Vermont’s continued recovery. The state’s highways did not recover as fast as the rail lines. Both shortlines are involved in the running of aggregate to help repair the state’s road network.
With demand for intercity passenger rail service on the rise, Amtrak is moving forward with an aggressive agenda for 2012 and building for the future while strengthening current services.
Hawaii’s Honolulu Rail Transit Authority awarded a $38.8 million contract to AECOM Technical Services, Inc., to design the project’s airport section of the elevated rail guideway.