The US$4.7 billion Frederick Douglass Tunnel undertaking in Baltimore has been awarded to 2 engineering and development corporations. Amtrak awarded the contract to Kiewit Corporation and J.F Shea Construction Inc this week. The undertaking includes the alternative of a 150-year-old Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel. The previous tunnel follows a curvy monitor below Bolton Hill, Upton and Sandtown-Winchester whereas the brand new one will arc easily to the north below Reservoir Hill and Penn North earlier than rising close to a brand new West Baltimore MARC station.
The Frederick Douglass Tunnel undertaking phases
The general Program will probably be delivered by way of three main development contracts. The primary contains changing 5 roadway and rail bridges and constructing new rail infrastructure (interlockings, tracks, catenary/energy, and so forth. Moreover, it includes setting up a brand new ADA-accessible West Baltimore MARC Station. The second a part of the undertaking includes constructing the Frederick Douglass Tunnel (each tubes). Additional, the third section includes becoming out the brand new tunnel with tracks, rail methods and air flow services. When the Frederick Douglass Tunnel opens, will probably be the primary new passenger rail tunnel constructed on the NEC since 1986, and the primary in Maryland since 1934. The brand new tunnel is called in honor of civil rights chief and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a Maryland native whose 206th birthday is later this month.
“As we construct on Baltimore’s renaissance, it’s essential to make the most of these federal investments, which can assist guarantee our metropolis’s transportation has the world-class infrastructure it wants. The Frederick Douglass Tunnel program goes to be a gamechanger for our metropolis and your entire area, and I’m inspired by Amtrak and USDOT’s intentional strategy and emphasis on group engagement. These contract awards are the subsequent step within the course of and convey us nearer to seeing the outcomes of those mandatory enhancements to our metropolis and areas infrastructure,” stated the Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
Trains that go by way of the tunnel
The brand new tunnel will include two tubes. They permit trains to journey 110 mph, primarily serve electrified MARC and Amtrak passenger trains. It affords a brand new 30-minute categorical MARC practice between Baltimore and Washington, Amtrak stated. Biden first introduced the undertaking throughout a go to to Baltimore in January 2023.
The West Baltimore MARC station undertaking
Final 12 months, Amtrak chosen a three way partnership of Clark Construction with Stacy and Witbeck for an additional of this system’s development contracts, which covers work on the tunnel’s southern strategy and a brand new West Baltimore MARC station. Officers say they count on to award one other development contract, overlaying tunnel match out, someday in 2025 or 2026. Funding for the work is being break up among the many Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak and Maryland. In November, President Joe Biden introduced $16.4 billion from the Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act for Northeast Hall undertaking. This contains the Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program.
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