Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) has awarded a contract to Hill International, Inc., to provide staff augmentation support for Metrolink's system-wide track, structure and signal rehabilitation program throughout the authority’s system.
Led by Metrolink Assistant Director of Rehabilitation Aaron Azevedo, PE, with the leadership of Justin Fornelli, chief of program delivery, this program will help maintain a State of Good Repair (SOGR) across the entire system, which will allow Metrolink to continue to provide safe and on-time service for its passengers. Metrolink operates seven commuter rail lines and more than 60 stations across 538 route miles of track in Southern California. The system operates in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, and connects to Oceanside in San Diego County.
Work under Metrolink's SOGR program that Hill will support includes replacing approximately 27,000 crossties; replacing approximately 43,000 linear feet of rail; upgrading 1,146 linear feet of wood tie track to concrete ties; rehabilitating 16 turnouts; design, permitting and rehabilitation of multiple culverts; rail top bridge replacements; grading; nearly two dozen crossing upgrades and more than eight signal systems rehabilitation projects to improve systems at more than 25 locations. The projects are vital to the safe and efficient movement of trains and will assist the Authority in delivering projects that are included in Metrolink’s SOGR Backlog.
Hill’s services will include rehabilitation program management, contract administration and management, construction and project management, field engineering and product development, signal project management, inventory management, asset condition assessments, Scope of Work development, Independent Cost Estimate development, staff augmentation support, office engineering services and public outreach support.
Hill First Vice President, Southern California Operations J.P. Villamizar, said of the award: “Overseen by our California Rail and Transit Practice Leader Vice President Mary Toutounchi and our Program Manager/Vice President Dan Nagy, we have assembled an exceptional pool of professionals for the SCRRA to draw from to support the SOGR program. This includes Hill’s own local bench of rail experts as well as the resources of our small business and DBE partners. The results for SCRRA will be a team at the ready to support the Metrolink SOGR objectives in any capacity.”
Hill Chief Executive Officer Raouf S. Ghali added, “Hill is, at heart, an infrastructure firm, as our decades of success on award-winning rail projects in Southern California and around the world demonstrate. We look forward to leveraging our knowledge of rail project best practices to SCRRA’s benefit on this program and deliver the system Metrolink envisions for years to come.”
