Front End

Fast Track Construction

A two-year effort to reinstate PATH commuter rail service between New York City’s Lower Manhattan and New Jersey—interrupted by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks—culminated in the opening of a new temporary passenger terminal at the World Trade Center site on November 23. The opening was marked by the arrival of victims’ families on the same train that carried the last passengers safely away from the World Trade Center before the buildings collapsed. It’s the first public space to reopen within the site.

With resumption of service a top priority of post-9/11 reconstruction, Bechtel’s construction managers helped speed up repairs to the line’s power and communications systems. This contribution, coupled with expedited repairs to Jersey City’s Exchange Place station and a rapid replacement of flood-damaged equipment in the two Hudson River tunnels linking the stations, enabled the reopening a month ahead of schedule, in time for New York’s busy holiday shopping season.

Bechtel also has been asked to help update other aspects of the PATH system.

Good Fellows

Since 1984, when it launched its Fellows program, Bechtel has honored 38 employees for distinguished achievements in the
technical arena. Nominated by management and selected after intensive screening by the board of directors, Bechtel Fellows are technical experts who’ve had a tangible impact on the success of customer projects and have made substantial contributions to their disciplines.

With expertise ranging from railway systems engineering to cellular networks to seismology, Fellows serve for the duration of their Bechtel careers. They continue their research and service, advising management on technology developments, mentoring young specialists, and serving as technical ambassadors at conferences and events worldwide.

In December, two new Fellows were named: Dr. Siv Bhamra for his work in rail systems, and Dr. Payam Taaghol for his work in cellular networks. They join 13 current employees who hold this distinguished title.

Six Sigma Solution

When productivity declined on a section of Network Rail’s West Coast Route Modernization project in the UK last year, there were indications that an overhead line installation subcontractor was performing at only 75 percent of its target. So one of Bechtel’s area directors invited the subcontractor to participate in the company’s Six Sigma program to identify the cause, using data to improve the process.

The analysis uncovered great variations in the time required for each work cycle, making it hard to schedule deliveries of equipment, materials, and workers to job sites. While it turned out the variations were outside the subcontractor’s control—late-running trains consistently delayed the outages during which work was permitted—the solution was not. By adjusting daily work hours as needed, the project could avoid wasteful downtime and maximize the workers’ restricted 12-hour shifts.

Increasingly, Bechtel invites subcontractors and customers to join its Six Sigma program. It’s all part of a companywide effort that’s saved Bechtel customers over $250 million as of August 2003.

Bechtel Buzz

"For Bechtel Infrastructure and Kiewit Pacific, the construction companies who are partners in Tacoma Narrows Constructors, safety is almost an obsession."

— From an article in The Tacoma News-Tribune about the area’s big bridge-building project.

Reality Bytes

For years, Bechtel has used virtual reality simulations to help customers visualize their finished structures even before the drawings are complete. Unlike animations and video clips, these 3D models allow users to control a “walkthrough” with a computer mouse or keyboard.

For the Tacoma Narrows Bridge project, Bechtel’s virtual reality software gave the customer’s engineers a reassuring glimpse of a complex cabling arrangement to keep a floating caisson in place during installation. Another model helped a different project team show how its design could accommodate emergency equipment if a worker were injured on the site.

Recently Bechtel has found another use for virtual reality: demonstrating potential environmental and other impacts. Public presentations and demonstration DVDs have helped educate local residents, community leaders, and politicians about a number of projects, including the bridge job mentioned above, an airport under construction, and two defense-related projects.

Transiting Transylvania

Countries applying to join the European Union must meet political, economic, and monetary criteria ranging from currency stability to human rights. Behind the scenes, however, is another key factor—improving infrastructure to the level of existing EU members. To that end, Romania asked a joint venture of Bechtel and longtime Turkish partner Enka to design and build a 415-kilometer four-lane highway between Brasov and the country’s western border. The effort will extend the link between the Black Sea and central Europe, via fellow EU aspirant Hungary. The venture’s ongoing success building key sections of Croatia’s Bregana-Zagreb-Dubrovnik Motorway may have given the Romanian government confidence that much of the work will be done in time for, or soon after, its planned accession to the EU in 2007.

Big Gets Better

In the mid-1970s, Bechtel began helping Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission create a modern industrial city where a fishing village once stood. It was a huge challenge, building a self-sufficient community from scratch that included a major port and airport, roads, highways, the world’s largest seawater cooling system, and a telecommunications system, as well as housing, schools, a hospital, clinics, and mosques.

By 1987, Jubail had grown to a city of nearly 120,000, harnessing gas once flared off from the Kingdom’s oil wells to power 191 industries from fertilizers to steel. The project ranks as the largest industrialization program ever.

Recently, Bechtel began work on the Royal Commission’s new 30-year program at Jubail. The goal is almost as ambitious as the original project’s: a massive expansion that will double capacity at the city’s port, and construction of a new industrial park that will place Jubail among the world’s largest industrial areas.

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