Rail and Transit

East Side Access, one of the largest transportation infrastructure projects under construction in the United States, will link Long Island Railroad (LIRR) commuter service to Grand Central Terminal, in Manhattan. This Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction (MTACC) project work includes 8 miles of tunneling and construction of a new 8- track terminal and concourse below Grand Central Terminal. Urban provided PMOC services on the East Side Access Project under three consecutive 5-year task orders since 2003. We played a key role in securing the MTA receipt of a $6.5 billion Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) for the project, the largest grant ever provided for a mass transit project.

Challenges: Construction of deep caverns and tunnels in hard rock for the new LIRR rail terminal beneath the existing Grand Central Terminal and new track system leading to the 63rd Street Tunnel; soft-ground tunneling beneath active Amtrak rail yard and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Line.

Lessons Learned: Coordination of railroad force account work with third-party construction work on active rail lines and yards requires an extraordinary level of communication and coordination by the Project Sponsor. Large, complex megaprojects demand a robust risk management approach to minimize significant cost and schedule impacts. Large multi-contract projects require the Project Sponsor’s team have sufficient management and technical capability and capacity to successfully handle all the administrative, technical, and coordination demands.

Urban delivered interim (30-day) and final (60-day) reports outlining project scopes of work from each agency and validating the estimated restoration, repair, and resiliency project costs incurred due to storm damage. Urban also prepared supplemental reports refining project information. In addition, detailed drafts of Forms 90-91 and 90-61 were prepared, including a photographic profile of damaged assets. This data helped form the basis for funding decisions made by FTA, FEMA, and other funding partners about transit assets that were damaged by the storm. Findings from the interim and final reports served as documentation for the Congressional appropriations to support the Superstorm Sandy Restoration, Repair, and Resiliency improvement program.

Urban provided value-added services in a number of ways. A fully-dedicated staff was quickly mobilized to support this project, including a full-time project manager. We worked seamlessly with the FTA to meet the hard deadlines to conduct the work, which were tied to the Congressional appropriations process. Being a locally based team, the Urban staff have a full understanding of all of the affected transit agencies in the region, including established relationships with transit agency staff. This intimate knowledge of each agency’s transit operations and infrastructure allowed us to expedite the work associated with this critical effort.

The Second Avenue Subway, an 8.5-mile-long route from 125th Street in Manhattan to Lower Manhattan will reduce overcrowding and delays on the Lexington Avenue Line while improving access to transit for residents of the far East Side. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) project will be completed in four phases. Phase I provided transit service from East 96th Street to East 63rd Street, as an extension of the Q line. More than 190,000 daily riders are expected to use Phase I of the line.

Urban was the FTA Project Management Oversight Contractor for Phase I. The project involved tunneling; trackwork; construction of stations; vehicle procurement; and installation of signal, electrical, and other systems. Urban provided feedback during development of the scope, budget, and schedule. We also offered guidance on management, construction, and quality assurance practices.

By providing timely feedback to the FTA, we helped move this project – which has been on the drawing board on and off since the 1920s – into construction. Our input led to negotiation of a Full Funding Grant Agreement, which provided $1.4 billion in federal grant funding, and authorization for MTA to progress through preliminary design, final design, and construction. We completed a comprehensive Readiness for Revenue Service Review (OP 54) that affirmed MTA’s ability to safely open Phase I for service earlier than forecast.

UrbanNY provides project management including design services and risk assessment for design-bid-build procurements for the Infrastructure Business Unit of MTA Construction and Development (C&D) at their bus facilities, line structures, rail facilities, and wayside power locations.

Key Projects:

GEC Bundle 6; Roof Replacement, Boiler Replacement, Car Washer Projects

UrbanNY provides mechanical engineering design for the HVAC system replacement at various project site locations in New York City on behalf of the Metropolitan Transit Authority at their rail facilities. The project includes design documents and specifications suitable for bidding for purchasing and installing new HVAC systems, including equipment, duct distribution, and new controls. Services include mechanical engineering and risk assessment.

GEC Bundle 11; Pump Room Rehabilitation, Emergency Exit Pressurization, Fan Plant Component Repairs, and Fiber Optic Installation

UrbanNY manages and coordinates the day-to-day operations of 12 Metropolitan Transportation Authority GEC Infrastructure Projects from preliminary design to final design at their wayside power locations. We oversee a team of engineers, project schedulers, and cost engineers to define the project’s scope, baseline report, design (0% – 100%), schedule, cost, risk and contract documents for the various projects.

• Pump Room Rehabilitation – Four pump rooms in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn will be rehabilitated completely including new mechanical, structural, HVAC components, and electrical and communication controls.
• Emergency Exit Pressurization – The project will pull fresh air from the street to positively pressurize thirteen emergency exits on the 63^rd street line from Long Island City in Queen to 2^nd Avenue in Manhattan. The project will install areaway boxes, ventilation towers, and new fans.
• Fan Plant Component Repairs (2 Projects) – The project will replace the MCCs (Motor Control Cabinet) and install new SCCs (Supervisory Control Cabinet) for 33 fan plants across the MTA systems in Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx.
• Fiber Optic Installation (8 Projects) – This project will provide high-speed network interfaces to support transport of multiple applications traffic such as Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), diagnostics, intrusion, monitoring and control SCADA traffic across multiple MTA facilities. The project will provide fiber optics to over 75 facilities on 8 lines including fan plants, communication rooms, and substations in Manhattan, The Bronx, and Brooklyn.

Urban served as the Program Manager for redevelopment of the George Washington Bridge Bus Station. In a public-private partnership, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) contracted with a retail developer to modernize the bus station and introduce a retail shopping complex to the serve the local Washington Heights community.

The project was designed and constructed within the PANYNJ owned facility; they are leasing the space, exclusive of the bus operations, to a private developer. A new bus platform and pavilion were configured for improved operations and passenger comfort.

Urban assisted with the program definition, including permitting and historic preservation analyses, design management, cost control, scheduling, document control and project management.

The developer was responsible for design and construction of the new bus pavilion and concourse for 30 buses to a specified design criteria. This relationship is similar to a CM/ GMP agreement. The construction was staged and phased to allow the continued operation of the bus station.

Urban was part of the Design Build team providing construction quality control services of the new downtown Buffalo train station. The overall objective of the project was to replace the existing Buffalo Exchange Street Station with a new ADA compliant facility in a cost-effective manner. The new station provides an ADA compliant Intercity Passenger Rail station and platform that incorporates future actions, plans, and concepts to accommodate intercity buses, additional rail services, and other intermodal enhancements. The current station is 4,800 square feet and is closer to Exchange Street and higher in elevation then the previous station so the building is not shadowed by the Interstate 190 viaduct. There is a lit, covered pedestrian walkway under I-190 to connect the Amtrak station to Erie Canal Harbor station of Buffalo Metro Rail on Main Street. Trains call at a single highlevel covered side platform serving one track with a second track for freight trains to pass through the station away from the platform. There is a waiting room on the east side of the building, designated drop-off and pick-up zones, and an area for 14 canopied parking spaces for Greyhound, Trailways and NFTA buses if they are later added.

Under its New York area Project Management Oversight contract, Urban Engineers was responsible for oversight of the rehabilitation of the St. George Ferry Terminal (SGFT). The SGFT occupies approximately seven acres and serves as a gateway to Staten Island. The ferry terminal incorporates mass transit and commuter services. The project was designed to improve and enhance the transportation and ancillary functions and services of the ferry terminal, while creating additional commercial retail and pedestrian links to adjacent sites.

Security enhancements consisted of upgrades to the site security fencing, locks, and cameras. This project was fully funded by a federal Port Security Grant.

As part of the project, Slip 7 at SGFT was rehabilitated. Slip 7 is located at the easternmost portion of the SGFT. Slip 7, which has a floating pier, provides access to Staten Island for private ferry operators.

The work coordinated with the Staten Island Mobility project, which includes holding lights at the bus platforms and bus platform lighting, furniture, and amenities; rehabilitation of passenger information signage for bus routes, express bus stops, and passenger route information to the Staten Island Railroad; and security and communication improvements.

Urban provided PMOC services on the Second Avenue Subway (SAS) Phase 1 Project, providing independent feedback on the project status and progress, including the analysis of the project’s scope, budget, and schedule, guidance on management, construction, and quality assurance practices. SAS’s first-phase expansion runs 1.8 miles between 63rd and 96th streets and consists of three new stations — at 72nd, 86th, and 96th streets — plus one upgraded station at 63rd Street.

Tunneling: A tunnel boring machine (TBM) weighing 485 tons and measuring 450 feet long was used to excavate 12,800 feet of twin-track tunnels measuring just over 22 feet in diameter. The three new stations rank among the largest underground excavations in North America, at nearly 64 feet wide, 100 feet deep and 1,600 feet long. The tunnel’s concrete liners were the first in New York City not to use steel-reinforcing bars, instead using steel fibers for flexural reinforcing and crack control, and polypropylene fibers for prevention of explosive spalling in the event of a tunnel fire.

Structural and Geotechnical: Tying a brand new subway line into an existing 100-year-old system is a major endeavor. Ground conditions can vary from the hard rock of Manhattan schist to the soft soils of old river beds and swamps. One challenge involved an area of fractured, weathered rock at the start of the east tunnel that was not discovered despite numerous borings. Ground freezing was determined as the best approach to allow hardrock TBMs to safely pass through, a decision that necessitated adjustments in tunnel sequencing but still kept the project on track. Special measures were taken for acoustics and community engagement.

To meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, Amtrak replaced the Passenger Information Display System (PIDS) on the main concourse of New York Penn Station, one of the nation’s busiest rail stations. Urban Engineers of New York, D.P.C. served as Construction Manager during installation of the new PIDS. The current PIDS had to remain fully functional throughout the project. The PIDS provides train numbers and names, scheduled and estimated departure and arrival times, boarding status, boarding locations, and destination lists. The system is comprised of electronic (variable messaging) signs and audio components to provide passengers with train status in both visual and aural formats, in conformance with Americans with Disabilities (ADA) requirements.

Our role involved monitoring work to verify that the new PIDS technology integrated with the standard construction elements in the station, such as conduits, wiring, and structural supports. We also coordinated work with Amtrak force account personnel responsible for electrical and data wiring, and connections to existing Amtrak equipment. AT&T provided the CAT6 cables and new switches. The construction contractor installed conduit and other infrastructure elements. Urban helped resolve issues related to the work by and among these separate entities.

In addition, Urban worked with the designer and Commissioning Agent to deliver a quality system. Urban monitored safety during the project and reviewed the Site Specific Work Plans. In addition, Urban managed and maintained the document control and file sharing systems for the project on behalf of Amtrak.

A large challenge throughout this project was the sensitivity of the work area. Some work had to occur at night, owingto the heavy foot traffic in the station, while designers and contractors worked during the day. To avoid any miscommunication, Urban provided daily reports on work done the night before to all companies involved. This helped keep everyone on the same page. In addition, weekly progress meetings were held to discuss pressing issues. These issues included areas containing asbestos, unforeseen obstructions in the station, and the integration of new equipment and software with the existing infrastructure. Through the weekly meetings Urban was able to coordinate resolutions to these issues.