Current Work

Track Upgrade Projects Are a Critical Link

by Katherine S. Robertson

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ambitious $6.3 billion East Side Access project is virtually a game of dominoes. The plan to connect commuter rail service from Long Island and Queens to Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal by 2012 has required the expansion, construction, adaptation, and realignment of railroad yards, tracks, and signals across three boroughs.

A critical element of these sequenced projects is a pair of track and signal upgrade and installation projects in Queens and Manhattan by MTA's Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad divisions, which will share Grand Central. They are working with the agency's Capital Construction Co., the lead unit on the project.

The Manhattan work is at the East Yard, where on 15 acres of Grand Central's lower level, more than 20 ft. below street surface, crews are reconfiguring track, installing new signals and power cables, and modifying and replacing an existing Central Instrument Location system with a microprocessor-based interlocking system. The yard will continue to serve primarily as storage for excess rail cars that Metro North brings in during its morning peak but cannot route out of the station.

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The East Yard scope calls for installing 11 pieces of special track, restoring and repairing the third rail, and installing a new signaling system to support the new track configuration, said Bob Magnifico, director of program implementation for MTA Capital Construction.

"We put in connections to improve access and routing within the East Yard to give more operational flexibility," he added.

The signaling will allow MTA to take individual system segments out of service instead of closing down an entire leg.

"It's an efficient use of power distribution," added Mike Daniels, a senior project manager for MTA Capital Construction. "It's safer and can be done remotely."

In Queens, meanwhile, LIRR, Amtrak, and contractors will finish adding track switches, power, and signals next month in a project that will provide direct access to the $75 million Arch Street Yard maintenance and storage facility, which was completed in the spring.

The work at the portals of tunnels that run under the East River involves reconfiguring the track, installing a signal system that will coordinate traffic in and out of the facility, and adding a third rail for electric-powered trains. The facility currently only supports diesel locomotives, Magnifico said. The job encompasses 6,000 ft. of track.

Amtrak is collaborating on the work because Arch Street connects to tracks serving the carrier's nearby Sunnyside Yard, said Sam Zambuto, an LIRR spokesman. The $12.1 million job - with $8.3 million from LIRR and $3.8 million from Amtrak - entails Amtrak performing work on its property, including installation of a third rail, additional switches to allow LIRR trains to cross its yard, and a catenary, or overhead electrical cable. LIRR is installing switches and electrifying track on other portions.

"The difficult part is that the work is so closely related to active train operations," said Albert Bast, a vice president of San Francisco-based URS Corp. and a member of the board of control for the East Side Access program manager, a joint venture between URS and San Francisco-based Bechtel Infrastructure. Bast added that project coordination is also a challenge, because much of the work is taking place at night or on weekends to avoid peak rail usage times.

At the end of the day, Bast said, MTA Capital Construction will issue from 70 to 90 third-party and force account contracts, all of which interface with other parts of the massive rail, tunneling, and infrastructure project.