Project leaders picked up shovels in Northeast Washington, D.C, to kick off a critical infrastructure upgrade along the Northeast Corridor.
A joint venture of Bethesda, Maryland-based Clark Construction and St. Joseph, Missouri-based Herzog Contracting broke ground Nov. 5 on the $705 million Ivy City Rail Yard modernization, part of Amtrak’s rail yard improvement program. The upgrades will support Amtrak’s new Airo trainsets, expected to enter service in 2027, according to the release.
The program impacts are already visible up and down the corridor.
Crews have started work on sites in Philadelphia and Boston, with New York City’s Sunnyside Yard groundbreaking planned for 2026. Amtrak also expects to award a design services contract for its Albany-Rensselaer station in New York by the end of this year. On the West Coast, construction firm PCL has also started on Seattle’s King Street Yard project.
At Ivy City, the joint venture will build an 860-foot-long maintenance facility spanning more than 260,000 square feet of new and renovated space. Plans also call for five maintenance and inspection tracks equipped with pits, drop tables, sanding systems and fueling pads at each end, according to the release. Once complete, the facility will serve as a daily inspection and cleaning site for Amtrak’s Northeast Regional trains.
“Breaking ground today brings us one step closer to introducing Amtrak’s new state-of-the-art Airo trains on the Northeast Corridor in 2027,” said Roger Harris, Amtrak president, in the release. “This investment will help transform the customer experience.”
The work is being supported by $22 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, said Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen in the release.
“Today’s groundbreaking marks an important step forward for the Amtrak workforce and passengers throughout the Northeast Corridor,” Hollen said in the release. “Along with providing for more efficient railcar inspections and repairs, this new Ivy City facility will play a central role in bringing new state-of-the-art trains to the tracks — delivering faster, safer, and more comfortable rail service for Marylanders and many more along the East Coast.”
Construction will proceed in phases through 2030 and should not cause any major disruptions to customers, according to the release.
