Cost of new rail construction

[Anonymous]

I was just curious what the cost of constructing a new rail line per mile would be. Say single track heavy main, 141 pound rail, concrete ties, deep ballast, CTC and the supporting grade. Basically everything from the ground up. I know it could get really complicated if one tries to include the cost of land or Union versus Non-Union labor so lets say for the sake of argument that we will leave the land issue out and use a generic amount for the labor. I know these days you do not see too many projects on that scale, but I just wondering if any of you would know in 2004 money what it would run. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Just as an example, currently we are replacing a curve on the rr I work for. This consists of 720feet of new 136lb rail on the high side of the curve, transposing the rail from the high side to the low side and replacing 120 ties. All done with non-union contract labor.

Any guesses on cost??

Approx. cost is going to be $45,000.00.

[Anonymous]

10% off with coupon. Offer expires 11/30/04. No purchase necessary.

[Junctionfan]

That would be an interesting way to drum up business.

[Anonymous]

it is often likely that the exclusion of land acquisition, environmental regs and expenses such as local regulatory and municipal adminiatrative costs and the lawyers that bill for this work actually puts the question on such a hypothetical basis that it is almost irrelevant to a real life decision. the recent push for new ethanol plants in corn production areas creates community issues which take months or years of haggling among factions representing growth/no growth citizens groups over every single issue involved. this bargaining is very much concerned with the traffic effects surrounding increased vechicle traffic from trucks and every imaginable aspect of how ROW will impact the townships from noise levels to saftey and estetics. How a community will treat the "permit process" has more to do with the project than the particular community's economic attractiveness.
i do not mean to down play the legitimate interest in the cost of track and road bed, but feel that it is worth noting that the inclusion of ancillary costs may not be a matter of raising per mile cost by 10% or 20% but rather "paperwork" may well amount to the greatest portion of the project in terms of dollars and cents as well as time to completion.

[rrnut282]

The cost of building a second main track is somewhat higher than what it would cost to build a track on virgin ground due to lost time waiting on trains, logistical conscerns like access from only one side, etc. that slow the crews down and increase the costs.

[mudchicken]

And then there is:

Railroad Basis, Contractor Basis and or Public Project Basis ( [(-D][(-D][(-D])

None of those numbers are even rationally similar.

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

And then there is:

Railroad Basis, Contractor Basis and or Public Project Basis ( [(-D][(-D][(-D])

None of those numbers are even rationally similar.

...just for that, I get to go flip manhole covers all day![banghead][banghead][banghead]

[rrnut282]

I worked on a project of 1.5 miles that came in around 2 million.

[corwinda]

How would the cost of a mile of new railroad compare to the cost of a new two lane highway?

[rrnut282]

Apples and oranges. In town or out in the country? Curb and gutter with storm sewers? Asphalt or concrete pavement and for what ESAL Equivalent Single Axle Loads (30,000 through 10,000,000)? Lay of the land or graded?

[railman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrnut282

Apples and oranges. In town or out in the country? Curb and gutter with storm sewers? Asphalt or concrete pavement and for what ESAL Equivalent Single Axle Loads (30,000 through 10,000,000)? Lay of the land or graded?

who let the civil engineers in here?
[;)]

[corwinda]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrnut282

Apples and oranges. In town or out in the country? Curb and gutter with storm sewers? Asphalt or concrete pavement and for what ESAL Equivalent Single Axle Loads (30,000 through 10,000,000)? Lay of the land or graded?

Country; assuming intended traffic including a lot of loaded 18 wheelers. (80,000 or 100,000 lb weight restriction)

Pavement type ... figures for each would be nice. Assume a portable batch plant would be required for either.

(I'm a writer, and this is for possible use on a story I'm working on.)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

And then there is:

Railroad Basis, Contractor Basis and or Public Project Basis ( [(-D][(-D][(-D])

None of those numbers are even rationally similar.

...just for that, I get to go flip manhole covers all day![banghead][banghead][banghead]

Flip all ya want, MC, but you're exactly right. There's absolutely no comparison. Nor is there any comparison as to project turnaround time.

Join with you[banghead][banghead][banghead]

[jchnhtfd]

QUOTE: Originally posted by corwinda

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrnut282

Apples and oranges. In town or out in the country? Curb and gutter with storm sewers? Asphalt or concrete pavement and for what ESAL Equivalent Single Axle Loads (30,000 through 10,000,000)? Lay of the land or graded?

Country; assuming intended traffic including a lot of loaded 18 wheelers. (80,000 or 100,000 lb weight restriction)

Pavement type ... figures for each would be nice. Assume a portable batch plant would be required for either.

(I'm a writer, and this is for possible use on a story I'm working on.)

rrnut may be able to give you a better number, but for that sort of loading you are looking at at least 1.5 million per lane mile, and probably double that. So a two lane highway would run around 3 million per mile to build, give or take a half a million or so, as a minimum. Around here (New England), anyway.

[Allen Jenkins]

The cost, to the State of Tennessee, for the twenty mile streach, between Algood and Monterey, TN, will take about six million.
The opening of a sand mine, will generate loads of sand, to be transported to the west, through Cookeville, Tennessee, USA.
The line, is the old Tennessee Central Railroad, abandond in the seventies, by the L&N.
Trees have grown to ten inches thick, and the entire roadbed should be recycled, to eliminate the stumps.
The Nashville & Eastern Railroad, has installed ribbon rail east, as far as Watertown.
It's a trip, to leave Cookeville, and watch the E8's, F7B's and the F40PH, rock and roll along the stick rail, and then as you approach Nashville, plan out to smooth ribbon rail.
Tri-County Rail, owns the route, and commutor rail is planned, albiet with F40's, instead of the E8's, want to buy an E8?
A government program, to distribute fuel tax money, shall be used to fund the Algood to Monterey line.
Eventually, the line shall be linked to Crab Orchard, which shall provide a east west connection, for the CSX.

[rrnut282]

Sorry I took so long to respond, I was working on a couple of bid tabulations for projects in town. Using current bid prices here in the hinterlands, I came up with $ 1,114,050 for a mile of 2 lane road. This price includes minimal grading work, 12" of asphalt on 6" of compacted #53 stone, silt fences on either side to slowdown runoff, construction signs, road signs, and striping.

It does not include: right-of-way acquisition, heavy re-grading, paved shoulders, storm sewers, bridges or culverts over ditches, lighting or traffic signals, no other street approaches or even driveways, no utility relocation/upgrade work, no subgrade treatments, or a higher level of erosion control. Add any of these items to a project and the price jumps up significantly.

Case in point, I just added up a total reconstruction project inside the city limits that runs 1.15 miles and includes subgrade treatment, concrete curb/gutter, driveways, sidwalks, street lighting, storm sewers, retaining walls, and repaving the approaches of intersecting streets that is at $4,106,024 and I haven't added in the water main (too old and should be replaced before improving the roadway above it) and sanitary sewers (the existing lines are combination and butt-joint clay tile).

Corwinda:
I would have to know the profit margin or break-even point on trucking costs to determine what effect having a portable batch plant on-site will do to the costs. So far, all of my projects have been within 30 miles of existing plants and the contractors chose to truck materials that far.

[Anonymous]

Delta Railroad Construction out of Astabula Oh quoted me 800,000 a mile on existing railtrail...They also do in stree transit constuction,They did Little Rock Streetcar for 12,000,000 which about 3 miles of track. Act now and they will throw in a Streetcar barn included with purchase. 5 miles of double track in street is 42,000,000 no streetcar barn.

[mudchicken]

Yeah - then they hit you up for force account, scope creep and the things the rubber- tired engineer dummy designing the thing ommitted. Take your $$$ Estimate and multiply by a bunch. (The car barn ain't so cheap now, is it?)[swg][swg][swg]

[Anonymous]

The State of Texas DOT Trans Texas Corridor website lists the costs of building NEW concrete freeways and asphalt freeways, the types of interchanges, types of bridges, and three different levels of railroads: freight, commuter, and High Speed.... among other things on a per mile basis.... The main varying factor is real estate acquisition....

DART has recently built electrified double tracked light rail on former railroad right of way, through tunnels, under power lines, and on rebuilt city streets including replacing all of the plumbing underneath, etc.etc.... DART has also made public the costs of each line through the different terrains.....

There is no simple per mile basis, as every mile is different..... While one can state it costs $4 million per electrified mile of straight line ground level track..... that number is misleading.
Bridges over streets, freeways, creeks and rivers costs as much or more than a mile of track.....

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill

Covered in this forum ad nauseum. If you use the search tool to search for the terms new, rail, and construction, simultaneously, you'll find the discussion.

BNSF spent $2.2 million per mile on its current second-main-track project in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. If there are specific questions in the old threads that still remain for you, bring them up -- we'll be happy to answer.

$2.2million a mile,Today........Ok back when the Union Pacific was being built,How did it cost per-mile back then? Back then.