Northeast Corridor

As part of a joint venture, Mass. Electric Construction Co. completed design verification and construction of Amtrak’s 157-mile electrified high-speed rail segment between New Haven, CT and Boston, MA in 1998. The line included 224 bridges and several tunnels, the longest being the 4,000-foot Back Bay Tunnel in Boston.

The $500-million project involved the installation of over 14,000 foundations and catenary poles; 300 miles of static, feeder, messenger, and contact wire; power supply, including four feeding substations, three switching stations and 18 paralleling stations; interlock lighting; backup signal power; and bridge carriers.

A key element of the work involved installing the overhead contact system (OCS), a constant-tension catenary system, which is designed for use with trains operating at speeds up to 150 mph.

The testing and commissioning phase placed all electrical equipment into operational service, including over 300 track miles of OCS equipment, 25 power supply sites, movable bridges and substation harmonic filters.