Governor pushes for action on Connecticut rail yard

Written by jrood

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said that she would push ahead with plans to borrow $100 million so that the state can build a key part of the New Haven rail yard, the Hartford Courant reports. One of Connecticut's biggest contractors recently offered to build a 293,000-square-foot maintenance center for rail cars that was only about half as expensive as transportation officials and a consultant had projected.

To secure that price, Rell
will recommend that the State Bond Commission approve $100 million in
borrowing. That will enable the state Department of Transportation to sign a
contract for the $124.8-million price that O & G Industries of Torrington
offered in its bid.

The rail yard is part of
the massive Metro-North upgrade project that Rell proposed in 2005, and the
"change-out shop"-where mechanics will swap out malfunctioning
components for new ones-is the centerpiece of that operation.

"To keep to our
timetable, it is critical that we move forward with work on the ‘change-out’
shop as soon as possible. Doing so will also have the added-and
always-welcome-benefit of creating new jobs," Rell said. "Keeping
this project on budget is every bit as important as keeping it on time."

Rell has promised to
improve reliability of Metro-North’s busy New Haven to Grand Central line by
replacing most of its deteriorating fleet of 30- to 37-year-old passenger cars.
The state plans to spend the next three years phasing them out in favor of
ultra-modern M-8 models to be built by Kawasaki. The M-8 design is substantially
different – and more complex – than the existing cars, and the DOT and
Metro-North plan to completely redo the New Haven rail yard to maintain them.

The new cars will be
modular; the plan is to minimize down time by having components replaced-rather
than repaired-at the change-out shop. So instead of a car being sidelined for
days or weeks, mechanics should be able to pull off defective parts, install
new ones and quickly send the cars back into service.

DOT spokesman Judd Everhart
said the agency is still discussing whether to accelerate the rail yard
construction schedule to take advantage of the weak market. The state
previously authorized $300 million for various elements of the project.

The DOT is considering
stepping up the schedule to build a wheel-milling building and a diesel storage
yard while contractors are still hungry for work.

The DOT and state lawmakers
attribute O & G’s surprisingly low bid to deep unemployment in the
construction field. Five other contractors also offered prices far below the
$250 million that Rell proposed in her most recent capital budget. Legislators
have said it’s essential for the DOT to carefully monitor actual construction
of the change-out shop to prevent costly last-minute design changes.

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