Amtrak updates $6B Baltimore tunnel project
Article excerpt
The megaproject - Amtrak’s largest-ever single infrastructure investment - seeks to curb congestion caused by the 153-year-old B&P Tunnel. Major tunneling work is nearly ready to leave the station at Amtrak’s largest-ever single infrastructure investment, at the same time that the passenger railroad company is adjusting the project’s scope. Construction has continued on the $6 billion Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel Replacement program, according to a Tuesday announcement. ADVANCE, an AECOM-Jacobs joint venture, is the project delivery partner. However, in response to challenges posed by construction market conditions, Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration have had to get creative, the release said, in order to refine costs and streamline plans. That included eliminating an intermediate ventilation facility and a smaller tunnel connecting it to reduce construction impacts on the community. The ventilation facility was one of the complaints raised by the citizens of Reservoir Hill, a neighborhood in Baltimore, who filed suit in 2024 alleging work would subject the community to noise pollution, solid waste and rodent problems, CBS News reported. The project team also raised the future tunnel’s track alignment at its deepest point approximately 10 to 22 feet, reducing excavation needs and improving long-term operations. The tunnel will maintain a maximum depth of about...
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Extracted from this sentence
The upgrade will create the Frederick Douglass Tunnel , boring two new tubes for electrified Amtrak and MARC passenger trains, as well as a new West Baltimore MARC station, 10 miles of rail infrastructure upgrades and local street and bridge improvements.
