It will provide project management support services to the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) for the LinkUS and BNSF components of the Southern California Optimized Rail Expansion (Score) programme.
Aims of the US$10bn Score programme include achieving SCRRA’s service vision for 2028, which coincides with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games.
Hill is supporting Score as part of a US$50m on-call contract with the SCRRA, awarded in March 2020.
Hill vice president and California rail/transit practice leader Mary Toutounchi will lead the Hill team’s work. “These projects are vital to realising the goals of the Score program, and to realise them on time and within budget,” she said. “Coordinating work and managing interfaces with ridership, regulatory agencies, and the impacted communities along the alignments will be critical to keeping work progressing as planned.”
Toutounchi said that Hill’s work on similarly complex and ambitious rail programmes in Southern California gives the team the tools to support SCRRA manage the project successfully.
The LinkUS project will renovate and modernize a 1939 station for SCRRA, Amtrak, and the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) by delivering a new and modern concourse. It will enable run-through services by constructing run-through tracks on a new viaduct over Highway 101.
The BNSF component consists of a series of projects along the BNSF San Bernardino Subdivision (SBS) to enhance safety, reliability, and capacity of freight and passenger train operations.
Hill’s team will monitor the programme and verify costs, schedule and final outcomes of the projects to ensure they meet the objectives of the Score programme.
Hill chief executive officer Raouf Ghali says of the award: “Transit infrastructure in Southern California is always a priority, both in terms of improvements and maintenance. The Score programme exemplifies the commitment of California’s taxpayers to smart, efficient, and sustainable public transit, and these two projects showcase that commitment. Hill specialises in complex rail programs and projects, and LinkUS and BNSF will be significant additions to our California rail portfolio.”
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