Railway Track & Structures - July 2008 - (Page 6)

I N D U S T R Y T O D AY CTA to seek partners for Airport Express service Chicago Transit Authority President Ron Huberman said that after a thorough review of the CTA’s Block 37 project to develop a transit center, track connections and direct airport train service, he recommended to the Chicago Transit Board that the CTA go out to bid for a private sector partner to build out the station and develop and operate the service. Huberman said staff would work with the City of Chicago, which is partnering with the CTA, to develop a request for proposals to seek that partner. In the meantime, the CTA will continue constructing underground tunnels to connect the Red and Blue Lines to the new station. It will also continue to work with Joseph Freed & Associates, the Block 37 master developer, to finish the shell of a station that would serve both lines. Scheduled work on both is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. Huberman said that it would not make sense to completely build out the station or create the final tunnel connections until a partner is selected because final layout, technology and finishes are dependent on an operating plan. To complete the tunnel work and the station shell will cost an additional $45.6 million. Build-out costs would be more and would depend on the needs of the future partner. The project was conceived in 2003, and the initial budget estimate was $213.3 million with a CTA share of $130 million. Huberman has identified three primary factors that impacted the project budget: construction costs, the site conditions and the site logistics. Since the initial budget was developed in 2003, construction and materials costs have increased by 26 percent. In addition, the CTA work occurred several stories beneath street level and construction crews encountered more challenging conditions than anticipated. There was still a significant amount of foundation and debris from previous structures on the site, as well as a staggering amount of utility work. The other factor was site staging. With two contractors and all their heavy equipment working together in a limited space, there have been significant logistical challenges that have resulted in more work being done at night and on weekends, at a higher cost. Huberman said that he replaced the prior project management team last fall and praised the new team for identifying the problems and providing workable solutions. Huberman also said that the major construction work is complete at the Armitage Brown Line station and that the newly-renovated station opened to customers on June 12. The Armitage station, the tenth station out of 18 renovated as part of the Brown Line Capacity Expansion project, is newly accessible with the addition of two new elevators. With the opening of Armitage, 80 out of 144 CTA rail stations are now accessible. Construction crews will continue to work in the weeks ahead to complete finishing work while the station is open 6 Railway Track & Structures July 2008 www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - July 2008 On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Website Directory Advertisers Index Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective Extending Service Life for Costly Special Trackwork Rail Welding Gets Act Together Premium Fasteners, Rail Steels Help Meet Strain of Heavy Haul

Railway Track & Structures - July 2008

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