Three JVs Win $2.6bn Amtrak Yard Overhaul Contract

Amtrak has awarded three major contracts worth a combined $2.6 billion to joint ventures tasked with modernising key rail yards along the Northeast Corridor.

The projects, which span Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C., are designed to prepare the infrastructure for Amtrak’s forthcoming Airo trains, which promise enhanced passenger comfort and options. 

“Amtrak will introduce the trains in the Northeast Corridor beginning in 2027,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said in the release. The upgrades are expected to benefit routes extending as far south as Miami and New Orleans.

The largest project is in New York City’s Sunnyside neighbourhood of Queens. Freeport, New York-based Scalamandre Construction and Bohemia, New York-based Citnalta Construction Corp. will oversee the $1.3 billion programme, an Amtrak spokesperson told the media.

Planned improvements include a new two-track maintenance and inspection building, six service and cleaning tracks with canopy coverage, and a modular office compound. 

In addition, crews will restore 11 service platforms and reconfigure two major interlockings that connect the yard to the broader Northeast Corridor. 

Work is expected to proceed in phases through 2030, the company said.

In Washington, D.C., a joint venture of Bethesda, Maryland-based Clark Construction and St. Joseph, Missouri-based Herzog has won a $705 million contract for the Ivy City Yard. 

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The project will add three exterior service and cleaning tracks with canopy coverage, renovate two maintenance facilities, and replace existing water main infrastructure, enabling the servicing of multiple trainsets across the yard. 

Like Sunnyside, the work will be phased, with completion targeted for 2030.

Boston’s Southampton Yard will see a $583 million rebuild under the direction of Salisbury, Massachusetts-based SPS New England and Paterson, New Jersey-based Railroad Construction Co., according to media reports.

The project includes building a new two-track maintenance and inspection facility and converting an existing one into a service and cleaning building.

The work will be done in stages and is planned to finish by 2029.

The upgrades mark one of the largest efforts to modernise rail maintenance infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor in recent years.

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