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Dive brief:
- Amtrak’s $2.7 billion Susquehanna River Rail Bridge project began preconstruction work on July 19, according to an Amtrak press release, with the goal of improving connectivity on the Northeast Corridor, the busiest railway crossing in the country.
- The existing 118-year-old bridge is the longest movable span on the Northeast Corridor and serves approximately 110 Amtrak commuter trains, MARC and freight trains each day. Currently, trains must slow to 90 mph when crossing the bridge, creating capacity and reliability limitations.
- The Federal Railroad Administration, Maryland DOT/Maryland Transit Authority and Amtrak are project partners. A joint venture between Flatiron, based in Broomfield, Colo., and Herzog, based in St. Joseph, Missouri, is the construction manager at risk.
Diving knowledge:
The Susquehanna River Rail Bridge project will help improve reliability and safety, increase train speeds to an upper limit of 160 mph and eliminate conflicts with marine traffic, the release said. The work includes the construction of two new two-lane bridges in the cities of Havre de Grace and Perryville in Maryland and the modernization of five miles of track, including electrical systems and signals.
Amtrak also awarded two more contracts to advance the project. AECOM’s Dallas-based team will support the completion of the final design and manage the construction phase of the bridge. Pittsburgh-based Fay Construction was selected to demolish and remove 10 piers remaining from an 1866 railroad bridge that stood just east of the existing bridge.
The first pre-construction work includes service improvements in Perryville and the removal of the remaining bridge piers on the Susquehanna River. According to the statement, this work will be completed by the end of 2024 and prepares the basis for the start of the construction of the bridge at the end of next year.
The project is funded in part by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as well as by Amtrak and the state of Maryland. In November 2023, the FRA announced $2.08 billion grant to support the final design and construction of the Susquehanna Bridge, part of $16.4 billion in IIJA federal investment for 25 projects in the Northeast Corridor.
“Amtrak is excited to break ground on this major bridge upgrade, one of several Amtrak infrastructure megaprojects underway or set to begin in late 2024,” said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner , in the statement. “Amtrak is advancing a new project. era of passenger rail with bridges, tunnels and state-of-the-art trains on the way.”
