New England Central is wasting no time in starting federal high-speed rail grant funded work, the second project in the country to begin construction.
Three rail trains (7 miles of welded rail on each one) arrived before the snows started. Rail has been laid and now crews are collecting the old jointed rail.
In addition, some ballast has been laid and steel is on hand to begin bridge strengthening over the winter.
According to Kevin Burkholder, writing for Trains Magazine, "With the onset of winter, the railroad has planned the rest of the project so that work can be done to get things ready to move in the spring. This includes signal work, such as replacing signal heads with LED lighting, bridge tie replacement, building crossing panels, and getting materials delivered and spread along the track."
The New England Central Railroad is acting as project manager with contractors Atlas Railroad Construction, RailWorks, and LB Foster.
There have been rumblings from Washington that newly elected Republicans might try to reclaim unspent high-speed rail money. Moving ahead on the project keeps it out of the way of this threat.
Here are some photos by Kevin Burkholder of the work:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?201012112249158914.jpg
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2010112116283721977.jpg
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2010112116245321850.jpg
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2010112116101620981.jpg
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2010112116124121140.jpg
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2010111818094429013.jpg
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2010111817481328249.jpg
