FlatironDragados–Herzog JV Lands $414M Contract for Virginia Rail Bypass

The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority has awarded a $414 million design-build contract to a three way partnership of FlatironDragados and Herzog for the Franconia–Springfield rail bypass, a grade-separated venture designed to enhance reliability for each passenger and freight rail by way of one among Virginia’s busiest corridors.

In response to a FlatironDragados release June 22 asserting the win, the venture will realign 1.4 miles of passenger monitor and features a 0.6-mile flyover bridge that may initially carry a single monitor however is engineered to help a future second mainline. 

The company’s February 2025 fact sheet notes the bypass design is about 90% full, with development anticipated to start this month and end by 2029.

Jim Schneiderman, FlatironDragados govt vice chairman, mentioned in a press release the venture “will present safer, extra environment friendly rail service by decreasing congestion and enhancing reliability.” He mentioned the group “will proceed to collaborate to … establish modern options to challenges.”

Company technical paperwork present the flyover design makes use of concrete column piers supporting transverse metal flooring beams with cast-in-place composite decks over the CSX freight mainline. The method spans are designed with longitudinal metal plate girders and metal deck plating.

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This hybrid configuration was chosen over deeper longitudinal girder methods to cut back the construction’s vertical profile, preserve clearance over freight operations and simplify development sequencing in a stay rail hall, in accordance with the company’s January 2023 development business request for data.

Plans present that the bypass alignment would require roughly 400,000 cu yd of earthwork, embankments, and retaining partitions to attenuate impacts on close by neighborhoods. Short-term shoofly tracks will probably be put in to maintain freight and passenger trains working by way of the hall in the course of the multi-year construct.

Dewatering methods, underground detention services and jack-and-bore culverts are deliberate to handle difficult subsurface circumstances, as described within the authority’s November 2024 roll maps.

Environmental assessments carried out beneath NEPA discovered no important neighborhood impacts, the company reported; a noise examine carried out decided post-construction sound ranges at close by properties will stay beneath 66 decibels, roughly equal to conversational noise. The company said it coordinated with the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Virginia Dept. of Environmental High quality to deal with wetland and wildlife concerns.

A number of Funding Sources

The venture is funded by way of federal, state and native sources, together with a $100- million Federal Railroad Administration Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Security Enhancements grant, Northern Virginia Transportation Authority contributions and Amtrak funds. 

The bypass varieties a part of the rail company’s Remodeling Rail in Virginia initiative, which additionally consists of the Franconia–Lorton third monitor and Lengthy Bridge North initiatives.

Scott Norman, govt vice chairman of Herzog, mentioned the three way partnership “seems ahead to bringing this venture in on time and on funds.”