The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has selected a team led by HDR to provide programme management services for its FrontRunner Strategic Double Track project.
This project has an estimated cost of nearly 1 billion USD. It will add at least nine new segments of double track along the 83-mile FrontRunner commuter rail system and will also update the corridor’s signalling systems.
Once complete, this work is expected to improve the frequency of the system’s peak service from 30 minutes to 15 minutes, while increasing overall service capacity by 55% and enhancing reliability.
HDR will manage the overall scope, schedule and cost of this project in coordination with UDOT and the Utah Transit Authority.
This will include providing assistance in the selection of a project delivery method, environmental documentation, federal grant support, project controls implementation, risk analysis, public outreach, preliminary engineering design and design review.
“The FrontRunner serves as one of the most critical elements of Utah’s transit system, and this important expansion will provide exciting new mobility options to the state’s rapidly expanding population. HDR’s experts have supported agencies across North America in completing similar double-track projects, and I look forward to the day when we add the FrontRunner to that growing list of success stories.”
The current FrontRunner system extends from Ogden to Provo and has 61 miles of single track and 22 miles of double track. Northbound and southbound trains consequently share the same track along most of the corridor, so any disruption can cause significant delays.
The Strategic Double Track project will roughly double the amount of double track on this corridor, allowing for more frequent trains and more reliable service.
As part of the project, UTA will also purchase 10 additional train sets to provide expanded capacity.
