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Major tunnel work is almost ready to leave Amtrak’s station the largest infrastructure investment in historyat the same time that the passenger rail company is adjusting the scope of the project.
Construction has continued on the $6 billion Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel replacement program, according to an announcement Tuesday. ADVANCED, year AECOM-Jacobs joint ventureis the delivery partner of the project.
However, in response to the challenges posed by construction market conditions, Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration have had to get creative, according to the release, to refine costs and streamline plans.
This included removing an intermediate ventilation facility and a smaller tunnel connecting it to reduce construction impacts on the community. The the ventilation installation was one of the complaints raised by the citizens of Reservoir Hill, a Baltimore neighborhood, filed suit in 2024 claiming the work would subject the community to noise pollution, solid waste and rodent problems, CBS News reported.
The project team also raised the track alignment of the future tunnel at its deepest point from approximately 10 to 22 feet, reducing excavation needs and improving long-term operations. The tunnel will maintain a maximum depth of about 150 feet below street level at the affected site.
Construction progress
Last year, work advanced on the new Mulberry Street Railroad Bridge, the first of five to be rebuilt as part of the overall program, Amtrak said.
In March, the teams reached an important milestone, breaking the final stretch of rock pillar separating both sides of a 345-foot-long utility tunnel. When completed in 2027, the tunnel will carry water, sewer, communications and electrical services below the tracks.
Finally, Herrenknecht, the manufacturer of the boring machine, has set to work on the two machines that will drill the tubes in the new tunnel. The first machine is 50 percent complete, Amtrak said.
The initiative aims to ease congestion on one of the narrowest rail corridors in the United States by replacing 1.4 miles of old track with a new route.
The update will be create the Frederick Douglass Tunnelboring two new tubes for electrified Amtrak and MARC passenger trains, as well as a new West Baltimore MARC station, 10 miles of rail infrastructure improvements, and local street and bridge improvements.
A JV of Clark Construction and Stacy Witbeck won one project manager contract at risk in 2023 for the southern approach. This work includes new tracks and rail infrastructure south of the future tunnel.
A separate JV of Kiewit and JF Shea Construction won the 2024 CMAR contract for the design and construction of the new tunnel.
“Replacing the 153-year-old B&P Tunnel is critical to improving safety and reliability along the Northeast Corridor, America’s busiest passenger railroad,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said in the statement. “The successful delivery of this program will continue to rely on the support and collaboration of all our partners to address and mitigate current and future challenges.”
The tunnel is scheduled to open in 2036, Harris said in the statement.
