Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • August 20, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com T he new Hartford Line barreled out of the station in June to strong initial ridership numbers, with the high-speed, New Haven-to-Springfield train service tallying more than 21,000 passenger trips during its first two weeks. While early revenue figures aren't available yet, rail officials say the $769 million rail line — among the largest investments in intercity train service in the nation — is off to a promising start. But efforts to get the eight-year project over the finish line were ex- hausting and complicated, and while the state Department of Transporta- tion has been the face of the service since its launch, there was another, behind-the-scenes player that did a lot of the heavy lifting. New York civil engineering firm WSP USA received $58.6 million to date to oversee development of the Hartford Line, a project that included laying down 27 miles of new double track, creating a new signal and control system, repairing or rehab- bing numerous bridges and culverts, among many other projects. While there were challenges in designing the line and laying a second track connecting Hartford to Spring- field — in addition to a late-in-the- game controversy surrounding the use of 30-year-old, out-of-commission trains from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority — the proj- ect largely ran on schedule, and was buoyed by consistent communication across stakeholders, said Rob Yirigian, who oversaw the project for WSP. What is now the Hartford Line used to be just a portion of a train route built in 1844 that ran from New Haven to Boston, according to Speedlines. Amtrak acquired it in 1976, and pulled up one of the two tracks between Hartford and Springfield. Decades later, in 2009, an initial $120.9 million in federal funds became available for a project to reestablish that stretch of track for the Hartford Line. DOT officials hired WSP to over- see the project the following year. The firm assisted in everything from raising funds to pay for the train service to overseeing design and construction. It helped DOT apply for various fed- eral grants, including from the Ameri- can Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the controversial stimulus program passed by the Obama administration in 2009. Ultimately, the project was granted $204.8 million in federal funds, and $536.7 million from the state. When WSP started work in late 2010, designing and replacing the second track presented immediate obstacles, Yirigian said. "In some areas we were at the top of an embankment, some areas it was at the base of a trough of a hill, and we needed to deal with some structural and geotechnical issues," Yirigian said. Environmentally sensitive areas in Windsor, Windsor Locks and other lo- cales also limited the distance the two tracks could be spread apart. Slope stability analyses were per- formed to figure out how much space workers needed to leave between the tracks, Yirigian said. Some track needed extra support because of the terrain. WSP also took care of the train schedules, using a Rail Traffic Controller algorithm software that allowed design- ers to factor in things like the number of Amtrak trains already running on the tracks and train speeds and conflicts. But the largest challenge was working with the nearly 1,500 DOT and Amtrak staffers, contractors and consultants who toiled on the project, Yirigian said. "Coordination is paramount because that's where you end up with prob- lems; things don't get communicated properly and slip through the cracks," Yirigian said. "We made it a point as corporate managers to really push that issue." That meant monthly coordination meetings across multiple groups on the senior-management and working levels, Yirigian said. WSP also held quarterly meetings with top brass from the Fed- eral Railroad Administration, DOT and Amtrak, which still owns the track. That kind of frequent communica- tion was necessary during construc- tion, when WSP shut down certain trains on the Amtrak schedule, Yiri- gian said, which allowed for a larger daytime window for crews to work. WSP provided busing for Amtrak pas- sengers whose trains were cancelled. "As part of this effort, our communi- BY THE NUMBERS Hartford Line 17 The number of daily round trips between New Haven and Hartford 12 The number of daily round trips between Hartford and Springfield. $8 Cost for a one- way ticket from Hartford to New Haven. 110 mph The max operating speed on the Hartford Line. 46 mins. The time it takes to travel between Hartford and New Haven. Staying on Track How one contractor helped design and build the state's $769M Hartford rail line The Hartford Line was an arduous eight- year project that was coordinated and led by civil engineering firm WSP USA. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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