Chicago transit honored for rail track renewal project

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) received an Honors Award for exceptional engineering achievement in the transportation category from the American Council of Engineering Companies for the track repair and replacement in the Blue Line’s Dearborn subway. CTA was the co-recipient along with Parsons Brinkerhoff, the professional construction management firm on the project.

The criteria for this award involved complexity and innovation, quality, safety, cost control, sustainability, customer service and public benefits.

The Dearborn Subway Track Renewal Project rehabilitated over 39,000 feet of track on the second-busiest of CTA’s rail lines. As part of the project, crews replaced nearly seven miles of running rail, contact rail and ties, — including all wooden ties dating back to the 1950s — which were replaced with concrete. In addition, six thousand feet of ballasted track in the subway was replaced with a direct fixation concrete slab track system. CTA began work in April 2009 and the work was completed in March 2010.

“Receiving this high honor from National Council of Engineering Companies is a great accomplishment and recognizes CTA’s continued efforts to improve the reliability of service for our customers,” said CTA President Richard L. Rodriguez. “CTA worked hard under an aggressive schedule in order to minimize the impact of construction on our customers and completed the project on time and under budget.”

The $87.8 million project was one of the first construction projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. General contractor Kiewit-Reyes, J.J.V. handled the construction with numerous local subcontractors.