MIAMI — Virgin Trains USA, formerly Brightline, has named contractors responsible for four construction zones on the company’s 167.5-mile “Phase 2” service extension from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Orlando International Airport. The announcement also contains details showing the extensive scope of the venture.
Zone 1: Virgin Trains Maintenance Facility constructed on 70 acres a mile south of the airport. Hubbard Construction and Wharton-Smith, Inc., officially began work Tuesday.
Zone 2: Middlesex Corp. also started construction Tuesday on a 3.5-mile right-of-way section at the Orlando Airport that includes clearing land; relocating utilities; building embankments, trenches, and bridges; track and signalization installation through the already-completed station; and reconstructing a highway interchange.
Zone 3: Granite Construction Co. is responsible for building the 35-mile sealed corridor east of the airport along the Beachline Expressway to existing Florida East Coast Railway tracks at Cocoa, Fla. This segment, traversing swampy land next to the existing highway, will require approximately 300,000 cubic yards of excavation, 5.4 million cubic yards of embankment fill, 865,000 square feet of mechanically-stabilized retaining walls, 100,000 linear feet of piling, 18 new bridges, three underpasses, signaling, and 60 miles of Class 7 track installation capable of hosting 125-mph trains.
Zone 4: HSR Constructors, a joint venture of Herzog, Stacy and Witbeck, and RailWorks, will upgrade 129 miles of Florida East Coast right-of-way from Class 4 (79 mph for passenger trains) to Class 6 (110-mph) track. This includes building 100 miles of new track after shifting 56 miles of existing track and rehabilitating 28 miles of existing sidings, installing PTC, replacing 19 bridges, and upgrading surfaces and signal protection at 155 highway crossings.
The announcement says, “Full-scale construction on Zones 3 and 4 is imminent.” Work on all four zones will be undertaken concurrently by the different contractors.
“For a project of this scope and magnitude, a world-class construction team has been assembled to undertake this tremendous assignment and we congratulate them on helping us make history,” Virgin Trains USA President Patrick Goddard says in a statement.
