Bechtel/urs Greiner Joint Venture Selected For $3.2 Billion Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road is the country's busiest commuter railroad, operating a train every 100 seconds into New York's Pennsylvania Station (Penn Station) on Manhattan's West Side. Penn Station is the LIRR's only terminal in Manhattan and the station currently operates at capacity, restricting present-day service expansion. The ESA Project will increase the LIRR's existing rail capacity in New York City and provide 172,000 rides a day to and from the east side of Manhattan.

The ESA Project will be a complex construction effort. The overall route will connect both LIRR's Port Washington Branch and Main Line to a new 10-track, five-platform LIRR terminal in GCT's lower level. It will involve more than 20,000 linear feet of new hard-rock and soft-ground tunnels and reconstructed tunnels between Long Island City and Manhattan, including the lower-level of the existing 63rd Street-Queens Boulevard Connector Tunnel, which is part of the 63rd Street Subway line. The project also will involve a major reconfiguration of GCT's lower level to accommodate LIRR trains, new and/or upgraded LIRR passenger access points at GCT, reconfiguration of New York City Transit's Lexington Avenue subway station to accommodate increased passenger traffic, a new commuter rail station at Sunnyside Yard in Long Island City, and a new railcar storage yard in Queens, as well as traction power, signals, and communications systems.

The Bechtel/URS Greiner program management team will serve as the LIRR's primary day-to-day manager and will supervise the General Engineering Consultant (GEC) and Environmental Consultant (EC). The program management team will also recommend approaches to all design and construction requirements, promote utilization of the most cost-effective design, conduct value engineering and constructibility reviews, prepare consultant scopes of work, manage construction and force account activities, and manage the project's budget and schedule.
"The ESA Project is a challenging, landmark project for New York City," noted Irwin Rosenstein, president for URS Greiner Woodward-Clyde. "It will enhance New York City's rail infrastructure to support economic development in the region, improve the quality of life, and significantly reduce commute times. We are pleased to have our joint venture team selected to assist the LIRR in managing this project."

Ed Richardson, president of Bechtel Infrastructure, added "The ESA project will provide the first link to improving transportation within the Long Island Corridor. We are proud to be spearheading this project, which will build on our 50-year experience in New York state, and continue efforts to enhance mobility and regional economic development."

Bechtel, now celebrating its centennial year, is one of the world's most accomplished and experienced engineering, construction, and project management firms. Throughout the course of its 100-year history, Bechtel has built a reputation as an industry leader in the planning and management of complex infrastructure projects. Bechtel provides premier technical, management, and directly related services to develop, manage, engineer, build, and operate installations for customers worldwide. Some 36,000 Bechtel and joint-venture employees are at work on more than 1,000 projects in 63 countries, serving every industry that requires project facilities or expertise. The privately held firm completed work totaling $11.3 billion in 1997. For more information, see Bechtel's web site: www.bechtel.com and, for project photos and the company logo, www.bechtel.com/photos.html.

Headquartered in San Francisco, URS Corporation offers a broad range of planning, design, and program and construction management services to public and private clients through its two operating divisions, URS Greiner and Woodward-Clyde. With more than 150 offices in 18 countries, the company provides services for infrastructure projects involving air and surface transportation systems; institutional, industrial, and commercial facilities; and pollution control, water resource, and hazardous waste management programs. URS Corporation is a publicly owned company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:URS).

The program management team will be headed by New York native, George Morschauser, P.E., who has more than 25 years of technical and managerial experience in the design and construction of transportation infrastructure and facilities. Mr. Morschauser holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.