Passenger Trains > Baltimore Tunnel contract announced

Amtrak announced that they have awarded their new tunnel contract in Baltimore.  Hooray.  Very much necessary and needed.  $6B dollars!!

But at the end of the annoucement it says that construction will last 10 years...........   What the hell takes 10 years to drill a two mile tunnel?  I don't want to sound unhappy or arrogant, but TEN years?

Is this one of these permanent employment schemes for the construction company and the city of Baltimore?  

The new tunnel will be constructed by Kiewit (once the firm Peter Kiewit's Sons) and local construction firm J. F. Shea.

Amtrak tunnel

Amtrak has been buying and demolishing homes in West Baltimore for several months as they begin construction.

WYPR report

Will this be a cut-and-cover job or an actual bored tunnel? Or some of each?

Reading the Amtrak FAQ about the new tunnel, it is stated that after the new tunnels are complete, the existing tunnels will continue to be used by diesel-hauled freight.  Additionally it states that currently two freight trains per week use the tunnels.

First, what are these trains and who runs them?  CSX?

Second, why would they would keep 150-year-old disintegrating tunnels open for just two trains a week?

Inquiring minds want to know.

rbenko Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Reading the Amtrak FAQ about the new tunnel, it is
> stated that after the new tunnels are complete,
> the existing tunnels will continue to be used by
> diesel-hauled freight.  Additionally it states
> that currently two freight trains per week use the
> tunnels.
>
> First, what are these trains and who runs them?
>  CSX?
>
> Second, why would they would keep 150-year-old
> disintegrating tunnels open for just two trains a
> week?
>
> Inquiring minds want to know.
This makes absolutely no sense at all.  Amtrak is already spending a ton of money on this tunnel right now keeping it in shape to operate trains.  Why would Norfolk Southern, who operates the freight trains on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor, want to maintain this tunnel for two freight trains per week?  What kind of profit can they expect to generate with two trains per week and that high cost of maintaining that tunnel?  I say this will not happen.  And remember, CSX already has their own route through Baltimore, a tunnel that they are working on to increase height for their freight trains, so this does not involve them.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

But once the new Howard St. Tunnel is finished, NS could detour their two trains per week onto the CSX tunnel.

MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amtrak announced that they have awarded their new
> tunnel contract in Baltimore.  Hooray.  Very
> much necessary and needed.  $6B dollars!!
>
> But at the end of the annoucement it says that
> construction will last 10 years........... 
>  What the hell takes 10 years to drill a two mile
> tunnel?  I don't want to sound unhappy or
> arrogant, but TEN years?
>
> Is this one of these permanent employment schemes
> for the construction company and the city of
> Baltimore?  

Like most big urban infrastructure jobs, this one has a lot of moving parts.  The announcement mentions that they have to replace five bridges in order to build this. At least some of those bridges will need to be fully complete and in service before much tunnel construction can begin.   There will be sewer reroutes, water line replacements, gas line rebuilds the whole deal. 

Most people have no concept of how complicated a job of this size really is. 

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Most people have no concept of how complicated a
> job of this size really is. 

Exactly - just look at the Artemis project to return to the
surface of the Moon.  That program was started in 2017,
and we are already 7 years into it without yet sending a
single astronaut into space utilizing the over budget SLS.
The SLS (Space Launch System) originated 13 years
ago with an expected launch in 2016 but it was delayed
by 6 years.  So close to 100 billion dollars spent and 13
years into it and....  

The Apollo Program on the other hand took a full 6 years 
to get to the Moon, and only yielded 6 missions to the Moon.
Course, it's much harder to do that today with the limits of
technology and what little we know about such missions.

Patience!  

10 years sound like a lot but it will take much longer - these
things are complicated!

/Mitch
 

>  What the hell takes 10 years to drill a two mile tunnel?

It's not the drilling itself. First you've got to acquire the ~100 properties above ground that are being demolished (the project includes bridges not just the tunnel). Then you've got to negotiate for subsurface rights with ~500 property owners that the tunnel will pass under. Some of those 600 property owners are likely to sue because they want more money than Amtrak will offer at first. Then it's the relocation of utilities, with allowances for discovery of pipes and cables that no one knows about because the records are imperfect. After all that, you can drill -- and it's actually two tunnels not one. 

I'd say 10 years is a somewhat aggressive target, actually.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/24 08:55 by ctillnc.