Overview
The NEC Gateway Concrete Casing Project provided for the initial phase of expanded passenger rail access to Manhattan. The overall project scope included additional tunnels and tracks between Penn Station and Newark. LiRo-Hill provided construction management services for construction executed via the design-build delivery method.
About the Project
To preserve available track space for the Gateway tunnel project in Manhattan, Amtrak’s plan is to construct a 900 ft long concrete box in the LIRR West Side Storage Yard where the Hudson Yards development is being built. In addition, to further create resiliency in the passenger rail system in response to disaster, and particularly flooding, new construction is designed to withstand flood levels at new standards, using criteria that would have prevented the flooding caused by Superstorm Sandy.
The project is designed to preserve an underground right-of-way for future expansion of rail service via two new tunnels under the Hudson River to Penn Station and is divided into two phases. Construction of the concrete casing tunnels consist of an open cut excavation going 10 to 20 ft into bed rock with secant piling as the support of excavation.
As part of the project, a portion of the LIRR Maintenance of Equipment (MOE) facility was demolished and rebuilt. In addition to the partial demolition of the facility, six service tracks that lead to the facility and parts of two yard tracks were salvaged and reinstalled. A number of utilities are impacted due to construction, with many being removed, relocated, restored, and/or replaced.
Project Challenges & Solutions
Extensive operations coordination were required with Long Island Rail Road, Related Development, and Amtrak during the relocation of the maintenance facility and the construction of the Amtrak tunnel structure. LiRo-Hill ensured that train operations were only impacted as per the planned track outages and scheduled train interruptions for the project.
As an Owner’s Representative of Amtrak, LiRo-Hill’s construction management team was responsible for the coordination of all contractor and force account activities, including:
- Providing quality audits by supervising and overseeing all aspects of construction.
- Providing oversight and reviewing related to activities performed by the design-builder, sub-contractors, and any other third-party entities.
- Providing daily, weekly, and monthly reports and any other compilations of information in accordance with Amtrak Procedures as requested by Amtrak.
- Providing CPM schedule reviews and analyses of progress.
- Providing project estimates upon request, reviewing claims submitted by the design-builder, and providing course of action(s) recommendations.
- Providing independent testing laboratory for analysis of concrete, asphalt, and soil compaction.
- Review of submitted invoices and providing approval recommendations.
- Periodic travel to project vendor’s manufacturing plants (i.e. precast concrete, steel, etc.).
