Virgin awards $505m Orlando rail contract

Granite will be responsible for 35.5 miles of rail alignment between Orlando International Airport and Cocoa.

Virgin Trains USA, which currently operates between Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, is the only privately owned and operated intercity passenger rail service in the United States. It is planning to expand from Orlando into Tampa and has also recently announced that it will construct and operate a new express service connecting Las Vegas to Southern California.

The scope of Granite’s work includes the construction of 62 track-miles of railway, approximately 400,000m³ of excavation, 3.8 million cubic metres of embankment fill, 110,000m² of mechanically stabilised earth retaining walls, 1,500m³ of cast-in-place concrete retaining walls, 18 new bridges and three underpasses. It will also be carrying out the installation of associated drainage, signalling and train controls as well as the relocation of electric and gas utilities.

Construction is anticipated to begin this summer for completion by 2022.

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