Western Railroad Discussion > Cost for 1 mile of railroad

Out of curiostiy this came to my mind, but does anyone know what the cost would be to build 1 mile of new railroad track. And what is all needed? Some fixings I'm sure I'll forget, but you would need the ballast, ties (concrete) spikes, the rail itself and what else?

Bryan wrote:

> Some fixings I'm sure I'll forget, but
> you would need the ballast, ties (concrete) spikes, the rail
> itself and what else?

The highest cost would be for a place to put it.

> The highest cost would be for a place to put it.

The highest cost would be the lawyers to fight all the NIMBY's opposed to it...

--Dan

The price of $1 million a mile to "replace" the trackwork on an existing track. This would be for upgrading a branch line to mainline status. It would cover new rail, ties, ballast, and associated hardware like tie plates, spikes or clips, etc.

However, if building a new track next to an existing track and the existing track's bridges and such are not build for two tracks, its about $2 million a mile for the new track by adding in new culverts, expanding bridges, and necessary grading. Add at least $200,000 a mile for CTC or other signalling.

This is just rough, very rough figures. IF you have to relocate businesses and houses or remove rocks and mountain by cuts and big fills, it can be as much as 5 or 6 million a mile easy. Now add at least $600,000 for a double crossover with CTC signalling and $25,000 for any regular switch to industries and such. Now if you know why BNSF is somewhat hesitate to double track Abo Canyon in New Mexico.

Bryan wrote:

> Out of curiostiy this came to my mind, but does anyone know
> what the cost would be to build 1 mile of new railroad track.
> And what is all needed? Some fixings I'm sure I'll forget, but
> you would need the ballast, ties (concrete) spikes, the rail
> itself and what else?
>
> [%sig%]

Take from the Caltrain web site at http://www.caltrain.org I'm sure it's costing more than suggested, but here is some of the nitty gritty which is resulting in new trackage, roadbed, turnouts, signals, etc. etc.


"As with other major construction projects, Caltrain may need to make adjustments once the project is underway, taking passenger and community input into consideration. The project will result in approximately 4 miles of new track between San Francisco and Menlo Park and additional track between Menlo Park and Santa Clara.

Contract Award: April 4, 2002
Projected Construction Start: North CTX - July 2002
South CTX - January 2003
Construction Duration: Approximately 22 months Approx.
Construction Cost: Approximately $110 million (fully funded)

Project Elements

North CTX

Bayshore - Menlo Park: install new signal/ operating system consisting of Centralized Traffic Control with reverse signaling and high-speed universal crossovers at various sites; modernize and upgrade active warning devices for seven grade crossings in Burlingame.

San Francisco: rebuild tracks, signals; add high-speed turnouts. Close King Street and formally close Berry Street grade crossings, open new Common Street crossing providing access to Mission Bay development and new University of California, San Francisco campus and upgrade the 16th Street crossing.

Bayshore to Brisbane: completely rebuild existing tracks and signals; add two new express tracks between Bayshore and Brisbane. Separate contract (summer 2002) will construct new four-track Bayshore station with grade separated pedestrian overcrossing.

South San Francisco: reconstruct existing Colma Creek railroad bridge, lengthening the bridge to accommodate a wider flood control channel.

Millbrae: rebuild two miles of existing main tracks; add station track with platform; complete platforms and Caltrain portion of Caltrain/BART intermodal station.

Redwood City: rebuild tracks and signals; add two high-speed sidings plus two switching sidings at Redwood Junction (Chestnut Street to Fifth Avenue).

South CTX

Menlo Park - Santa Clara: install new CTC with reverse signaling with high-speed universal crossovers at Menlo Park, San Antonio Road and Sunnyvale. Project completion will equip Caltrain with total remote dispatching and reverse running capabilities from San Francisco to San Jose.

Sunnyvale: rebuild existing tracks, add two new express tracks from Fair Oaks to Bowers Avenue.

Lawrence: completely reconstruct Lawrence station platforms, parking and shuttle stops; construct new ADA accessible pedestrian underpass"

The highest cost would be for the labor to install it. That's why it's hard to get money in the private market for track work. For a locomotive, the money is like a car loan. If you fall behind, the lender takes the vehicle. Or you can arrange a lease. Same thing with cars. With track, there's no recourse if the loan goes south. The value of the materials won't repay the loan. And you have to incur more labor costs just to pick up the materials.

Railroad wages are very close to the highest for blue collar workers. Then you include extra costs for Railroad Retirement, FELA, benefit packages, etc., and it adds up to a tidy sum to pay for a crew to install a mile of track, much more than the value of the materials involved.

The point above about lawyers and NIMBYs is well taken. But just for the track work itself, labor is the highest single cost.

Actually I believe the cost of rail, jewelry, ties and ballast would be far greater than the labor to install them. Last time I checked (20 years ago) new 132lb. rail was about $55/foot or $580,800 per mile both sides. Labor to install the rail (60 person steel gang, out of face) for two days with benefits was about $18,000. ($12 per hour X 8 hours X 60 men X 2 days + 50% benefits.)

Of course for a mile of new track we are talking about grading, tie installation and surfacing but my example simply shows huge disparity between material costs and labor costs on one aspect of track work. I'd like to see actual numbers to back up the claim that labor costs are higher than material to build one mile of track.

Also I think you'll find that trackworkers do not make nearly as much as union construction workers in the large cities although the nature of job may be superior when one considers benefits and the fact that the railroad does not usually hire and layoff for each job.

By the way, that was twenty years ago. As we all know productivity has increased dramatically on the railroads while labor wages have about increased with inflation. RRR and FELA costs have gone down with the 60/30 law and increased safety. Railroad labor used to account for 50 cents of each dollar spent and it is now quite a bit lower. The AAR reports on this figure annually. Railroads are reporting benefits in a range of 50-70% of wages.

Anyone have the numbers on operating employee wages vs. revenue per train over a district?

HDR Engineering, one of the largest engineering firms in the US, pegs the cost for new main tracks at $125 per foot ($660,000 per mile)for everything excluding land. That figure includes rail, ties, ballast, and labor. The $125 figure is from the 2001 Fresno rail consolidation study done by HDR and so the figure is probably up another 10% by now as it's two years old.

Caltrans pegs grade seperations at an average of $10 Million if any are involved and I have also seen figures that show turnouts averaging between $60K to $75K each.

Here is a direct link to HDR's website page where you can see the various rail projects they have been involved with, just enter "rail" in the search box.

http://www.hdrinc.com/search/default.asp