[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 81 (Tuesday, May 11, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E497-E499]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   LONDON BRIDGE ASSOCIATION STUDY ON REHABILITATING THE EAST RIVER 
                                TUNNELS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. RITCHIE TORRES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 11, 2021

  Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a 
study conducted by the London Bridge Association on the benefits of 
implementing a repair-in-place model for rehabilitating the East River 
Tunnels in New York City. The full study can be found at the following 
web page: http://www.gatewayprogram.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/
2020-11-23-LBA-vFINAL.pdf. . .

       Track bed and overhead line replacement is a priority 
     because it is responsible for a large percentage of the 
     delays.


                 1.5. NRT Current Conditions--Overview

       The NRT consists of two tubes and was constructed in the 
     early 1900s and, in addition to suffering from old age, was 
     impacted by Superstorm Sandy, the deadliest and most 
     destructive, as well as the strongest, hurricane of the 2012 
     hurricane season. The NRT is located on the Northeast 
     Corridor

[[Page E498]]

     (NEC), the most heavily used passenger railway in the United 
     States and is used for over 200,000 passenger trips by NJ 
     TRANSIT and Amtrak customers. The NRT is experiencing the 
     following conditions:
       Long-term damaged and deteriorating tunnel infrastructure
       Leaks in shafts and tubes
       Tunnel services are beyond their useful life and need 
     replacement
       Track faults
       Overhead line (catenary) issues
       Poor drainage and maintenance issues
       Salts/chlorides from Superstorm Sandy corrode rails and 
     exacerbate stray current
       Due to the long-term deterioration and the conditions 
     described above, the NRT's two tubes are currently 
     experiencing incidents that are increasing in frequency and 
     unpredictability and are threatening the reliable operation 
     of the NRT for Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT customers. A report from 
     the Northeast Corridor Commission (Ref 12.1.6) analysed more 
     than 3 million train movements and 750,000 daily delay 
     records between 2014 and 2018. The report found there were 65 
     days where incidents in or around the NRT resulted in more 
     than 5 hours of train delay, of which 45 were caused by 
     infrastructure issues, resulting in 2,500 delayed trains and 
     65,800 train delay minutes. The report indicated that the 
     delay minutes were due to:
       Signal Problems (13% of delay minutes)
       Track Conditions (31% of delay minutes)
       Overhead Power (35% of delay minutes)
       Other (21% of delay minutes)


                    1.6. Current Refurbishment Plan

       The current proposal for the NRT Refurbishment proposes a 
     solution that would be completed after the construction and 
     completion of the new Hudson River Tunnel (HRT) in 2028, thus 
     leaving the NRT ``at risk'' until 2032, at the earliest (as 
     of the 2019 financial Plan). Based on LBA's review of the 
     current NRT conditions, LBA believes that this is an 
     unsatisfactory situation, does not meet global best practice, 
     and that there are approaches that could be adopted to target 
     the refurbishment at a much earlier time.
       LBA, therefore, considered how this risk to the NRT 
     infrastructure and to the Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT customer 
     experience could be reduced and a resilient and reliable 
     service established at the earnest possible time whilst 
     delivering better value.

                          2  Executive Summary


                             2.1  Overview

       This report takes into account the current NJ TRANSIT and 
     Amtrak rail operations and concludes that regular weeknight 
     and weekend periods of a one-tube outage are feasible, 
     reliable, and safe. This would necessitate an in-service 
     sequence of work in only one of the NRT tubes at any point in 
     time and refurbishment could be undertaken simultaneously in 
     a number of locations in the occupied NRT tube by means of 
     bespoke highly productive works trains or road rail 
     vehicles.
       This review is conceptual and general in nature, based on 
     limited information provided. Further diligence is required 
     to verify the feasibility of the LBA proposals and to confirm 
     the assumptions made concerning the NRT, as well as 
     developing the planning and budgeting for the NRT 
     Refurbishment work.
       Refurbishment activities identified are:
       Repair the tunnel lining and seal the leaks
       Replace the mechanical and electrical services in the 
     tunnel with new and improved systems
       Replace the High Voltage (HV) cables which pass through the 
     tubes
       Demolish the bench walls (which are too high and failing) 
     and replace them with new walkways and cable containments
       Replace the trackbed, track, and overhead catenary
       Replace the signalling system
       The refurbishment activities that are proposed to be 
     accomplished through an in-service refurbishment are broadly 
     the same as the activities currently proposed in the full 
     outage scenario.
       The specific target of LBA's review has been to consider 
     whether it is feasible, safe, and with no impact to the rail 
     service, to carry out the refurbishment while both of the 
     NRT's two tubes remain in service, with refurbishment work 
     being carried out in agreed off-peak outage periods during 
     both overnights and weekends.
       In doing so, LBA have leaned on their experience gained on 
     recent projects in the United Kingdom and also referred to 
     international best practice on other recent projects in the 
     United Kingdom, Europe, Hong Kong, and the United States (the 
     Canarsie Tubes/L-Train). Refurbishment in-service is becoming 
     increasingly the norm of international best practice as 
     highly utilised railway systems/tunnels get older and are 
     under increasing pressure due to rising passenger demand. 
     Some examples of refurbishment in-service on the London 
     Underground, a very old and busy system, include the 
     refurbishment of the Central Line and Northern Line tunnels 
     as well as 3.2 km of the Metropolitan Line (the world's first 
     underground railway dating back to 1863) between Baker Street 
     and Finchley Road Underground Stations.
       To demonstrate the feasibility of an in-service NRT 
     Refurbishment that would implement the refurbishment 
     activities identified above, LBA has developed a conceptual 
     approach and developed an outline plan and program for the 
     NRT:
       A conceptual approach, strategy, and system of work
       Outputs and calculated durations of work based on the 
     available working time (weeknight and weekend one-tube 
     outages)
       A schedule for the refurbishment activities for each tube
       The logistics arrangements (at an outline stage):
       The equipment which could be used to demolish, remove, and 
     reconstruct the walkways/benches
       The safety equipment required to carry out the works
       The options for trackbed replacement
       LBA have carried out a construction planning exercise of 
     all of the main activities with the purpose of demonstrating 
     the overall feasibility and possible schedule of NRT 
     Refurbishment in-service while managing risks to NJ TRANSIT 
     and Amtrak customers. LBA emphasises that such construction 
     planning study is conceptual and general in nature, with 
     limited information.


    2.2  Finding: The NRT is Experiencing Significant Deterioration

       The NRT consists of two tubes and was constructed in the 
     early 1900s and, in addition to suffering from old age, was 
     impacted by Superstorm Sandy, the deadliest and most 
     destructive, as well as the strongest, hurricane of the 2012 
     hurricane season. The NRT is experiencing the following 
     conditions: Long-tern, damaged and deteriorating tunnel 
     infrastructure, leaks in shafts and tubes, tunnel services 
     are beyond their useful life and need replacement, track 
     faults, overhead line (catenary) issues, poor drainage and 
     maintenance issues, and salts/chlorides from Superstorm Sandy 
     corrode rails and exacerbate stray current.


                 2.3,  Finding: What is Not Recommended

       2.3.1 Waiting for the Construction of the New Tunnel to 
     Start NRT Refurbishment:
       The current proposal for the NRT Refurbishment proposes a 
     solution that would be completed after the construction and 
     completion of the new Hudson River Tunnel (HRT) in 2028, thus 
     leaving the NRT ``at risk'' until 2032, at the earliest (as 
     of the 2019 Financial Plan). Based on LBA's review of the 
     current NRT conditions, LBA believes that this is an 
     unsatisfactory situation, does not meet global best practice, 
     and that there are approaches that could be adopted to target 
     the refurbishment at a much earlier time.
       2.3.2 Removing Scope from the Current NRT Refurbishment 
     Plan:
       The NRT's two tubes are currently experiencing incidents 
     that are increasing in frequency and unpredictability and are 
     threatening the reliable operation of the NRT for Amtrak and 
     NJ TRANSIT customers. The NRT Refurbishment requires an 
     approach that includes a scope of work necessary to address 
     the long-term deterioration of the existing infrastructure, 
     and should be broadly the same as the activities currently 
     proposed in the full outage scenario.
       2.3.3 Repairing the NRT Incrementally Through Smaller 
     Repairs:
       A ``stabilization'' type approach is poor value and will 
     not solve the basic problems.
       2.3.4 Leaving the NRT Bench Walls, As They Currently Exist, 
     in Place:
       The NRT bench walls cannot be left as is because:
       1) The height of the existing bench wall is higher than the 
     level of the train vestibule, requiring an unacceptable 
     stepping distance in an emergency,
       2) The headroom of the emergency walkway needs to be 
     increased.
       The concrete forming the existing bench walls is likely to 
     be relatively weak with numerous internal voids. There is a 
     requirement to lower the level of the bench wall in the NRT 
     by 2-3 feet in order to achieve satisfactory emergency egress 
     according to NFPA 130. Further, a low-level Maintenance 
     Platform bench wall on the opposite side of the tube from the 
     emergency bench wall is proposed for railway workers to gain 
     access to the train bogies (underneath the train/wheel 
     truck), It should be noted that the Canarsie Tubes (L-Train) 
     bench walls could be left at their existing height, but this 
     is not possible in the NRT based on current information.
       2.3.5 Leaving the Track, Trackbed, and Overhead Line, As 
     They Currently Exist, in Place:
       The NRT track, trackbed, and overhead line failures, 
     according to the Northeast Corridor Commission report on 
     train performance, are the causes of a significant proportion 
     of the delays to NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak customers and do not 
     meet global best practice. It should be noted that the 
     Canarsie Tubes (L-Train) already had a fixed concrete 
     trackbed system, unlike the NRT, and only partial 
     refurbishment was required.
       2.3.6 Leaving the Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) Services, 
     As They Currently Exist, in Place:
       Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) Services, including cables, 
     ducting, water and fire main piping, signalling, and 
     communications cabling, are currently operable, but are not 
     considered to be ``State of the Art,'' are contained in 
     degraded benchwalls, and contribute to system failures. Any 
     form of in-service refurbishment will require sequential and 
     phased management of the relocation and replacement of these 
     services, which will be moved in synchronization with the 
     demolition and replacement of the bench walls and necessary 
     repairs to the tunnel concrete lining. The M&E services will 
     need to be protected and fireproofed in compliance with 
     contemporary regulations (operational and emergency 
     compliance requirements).
       2.3.7  Replacing Cables in Ducts Encased in Concrete:

[[Page E499]]

       It has been previously considered that the only way to 
     protect cables from fire and mechanical damage is to pull 
     them into ducts encased by concrete forming the bench walls. 
     This cumbersome solution restricts the lengths of HV cables 
     which can be pulled into ducts, does not give easy access for 
     maintenance, and requires frequent joint pits which are 
     current sources of failure.


                   2.4  finding: What is Recommended

       2.4.1 Implement NRT Refurbishment ``In-Service'':
       LBA believes that regular weeknight and weekend periods or 
     one-tube outages are feasible. This would necessitate an in-
     service sequence of work in only one of the NRT tubes at any 
     point in time and refurbishment could be undertaken 
     simultaneously in a number of locations in the occupied NRT 
     tube. Planning should utilise weeknights for non-invasive 
     work and weekends for more linear, invasive construction 
     work.
       Repair the tunnel lining and seal the leaks
       Replace the mechanical and electrical services in the 
     tunnel with new and improved systems
       Replace the High Voltage (HV) cables which pass through the 
     tubes
       Demolish the bench walls (which are too high and failing) 
     and replace them with new walkways and cable containments
       Replace the trackbed, track, and overhead catenary
       Replace the signalling system
       2.4.2 Reduce the Service Impacts at the Earliest Possible 
     Stage:
       The prioritisation of track, trackbed, and overhead line 
     replacement is important in planning the NRT Refurbishment, 
     therefore, early activities should include:
       Lower trackbed, Where Possible: To achieve a greater 
     clearance between the overhead catenary cable and the train 
     pantograph (arm)
       Direct Fixation Trackbed: Replace the existing traditional 
     ballasted (crushed stone) trackbed with a fixed concrete 
     system (direct fixation track) to avoid blocked drains and 
     salt-contaminated ballast (that result in signal problems)
       Modify or Replace 12.5kV Overhead Line: To achieve the full 
     dynamic and electrical clearances that are required in the 
     crown of the tubes for compliance with standards
       2.4.3  Utilise In-Line Methodologies and Sequences for 
     Bench Wall Demolition & Replacement:
       LBA have detailed a number of possible methodologies for 
     the replacement of the NRT bench wall based on benchmark 
     performance information from successful international 
     projects to provide an emergency egress walkway, a 
     maintenance platform for railway workers, and locations for 
     the tunnel's electrical/communication cables and third-party 
     services, including a precast solution, GRP encasement 
     solution, duct bank solution with fire protection, fireproof 
     duct solution, and cable in racks only solution. All options 
     have their advantages and disadvantages, but the fireproof 
     duct solution incorporated in a steel cantilevered walkway 
     conceptually seems to offer the best potential ahead of a 
     formal fire risk assessment.
       2.4.4 Utilise modern cable solutions and comply with NFPA 
     130 Fire Life Safety requirements:
       LBA makes recommendations for modern cable solutions and an 
     approach to cable management and containment based on laying 
     cables rather than pulling them. Utilizing the longest 
     possible lengths of cable reduces joints and joint pits and 
     ultimately potential cable failures. High Voltage (HV) cables 
     (power cables) and Low Voltage (LV) cables (lighting, 
     telephony, fire detection, alarm, and communications) may 
     require different types of solutions, depending on the level 
     of Fire Protection required under the NFPA 130 standard.
       LV cable containment systems could include continuous 
     troughs and cable racking with fire protection to emergency 
     circuits provided by the direct cable sheathing or a 
     sheathing which contains the cable.
       HV cables with intrinsic resistance to fire are not 
     available but fire protection may be required to protect 
     business continuity as the result of a fire risk assessment 
     identifying an unacceptable level or risk. Cables could be 
     contained in a number of ways including securing to low level 
     cable racks and fireproof ducting. Suitable fireproof ducting 
     has been identified if required and included in the 
     conceptual bench wall replacement options. Space constraints 
     are an important consideration because the fire resistance is 
     dependent on the duct material thickness and air gaps are 
     required around the cables for cooling. A detailed design 
     would be required to determine the final solution for the 
     duct.
       Protection to all cables and services should be provided by 
     derailment protection provided by guard rails, which sit 
     inside the running rails.
       Refurbishment should ensure that the emergency egress 
     walkway clearances are safe and compliant with NFPA 130 
     requirements.
       2.4.5  Remove the Third Rail:
       LBA believes that the Third Rail should be removed because 
     it is not used routinely, there are alternatives to its use 
     in an emergency, the cost of installing and maintaining is 
     unnecessary, it is an unnecessary complication in safety and 
     emergency procedures, and, if required, the Third Rail can be 
     re-installed at the end of construction or another future 
     date.
       2.4.6 Treat the In-Service Refurbishment Operation as a 
     System:
       Optimise the overall performance rather than maximise 
     component elements of the cycle and propose using mechanical 
     measures where practicable to enhance productivity and 
     promote innovation, refinement, and improvement.
       2.4.7 Utilise Bespoke and Highly Productive Works Trains & 
     Railhead:
       Battery or hybrid locomotives could be used for train 
     rescue and for handling works trains for NRT refurbishment. A 
     railhead should be constructed to support the activities 
     within the NRT tubes to service and load work trains for the 
     refurbishment.
       2.4.8  Incorporate Risk Mitigation Throughout the Planning 
     of the Refurbishment:
       Mitigations have been implemented successfully to help 
     other refurbishment projects of comparable age, complexity, 
     and essentiality. The risk chapter of this report identifies 
     specific risks and proposes appropriate mitigations. LBA 
     recommends that a risk assessment is conducted by the 
     Integrated Work Team, which includes the Gateway Partners, to 
     compile and address the risks and deficiencies that could 
     occur during the refurbishment program.

                          ____________________