September 30, 2024
Fredrick Douglas Tunnel Replacement Begins Early Work
The Fredrick Douglas Tunnel Replacement project has progressed into early work phases as they continue preconstruction for the massive tunnel upgrades. The team has also been collaborating with designers and utility owners to proactively identify and address potential utility conflicts, allowing for utility work to begin earlier than anticipated.
A comprehensive schedule to illustrate the logical flow of the work and the interaction between the construction activities and temporary rail routing is being developed to help ensure an efficient progression of design packages and a streamlined project timeline. Throughout schedule development and constructability reviews, the team has been working together to explore different options to minimize impacts on rail operations.
The overall project will consist of constructing two new passenger rail tunnels beneath the historic city of Baltimore. The existing tunnel is about 150 years old and requires continuous maintenance and has speed restricting curves which create a significant bottleneck along the Northeast Rail Corridor. Building new tunnels and adjusting the tunnel’s alignment to ease curvature, allowing for higher travel speeds will mitigate these limitations.
The track scope will include 13 miles of track, installing seven crossovers, and replacing three route miles of four catenary, which also supports 138kV transmission lines and signal power.
