“Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination. Imagine what a great project that would be to rebuild America.” – President Obama, April 16, 2009.
Rebuilding America
With a 10 Billion Dollar investment from the federal government via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, President Obama’s stated vision became reality and Pittsburgh Pipe was right in the middle of it all. You’ll find Pittsburgh Pipe’s steel casing throughout the construction of the High Speed Rail project, in sizes from 30 inches to 80 inches in outside diameter, produced at our state of the art pipe manufacturing facility in Litchfield, Illinois.
The Federal Railroad Administration launched the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program to work in coordination with States and Amtrak, to develop a passenger rail network that will connect 80 percent of Americans to high-speed rail in 25 years.
In September 2010, one of the first construction projects in the national High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program began along the Chicago to St. Louis route to prepare it for future train operations that could reach up to 110 miles per hour. This construction included major improvements to track, signal systems, stations, and rolling stock to increase performance, passenger comfort and safety, with an investment of over 1.1 Billion Dollars. Since the very beginning, Pittsburgh Pipe has been involved in this important infrastructure development.
The second round of construction upgraded approximately 96 miles of existing track from Elkhart to Dwight, and an additional 18 miles were also created between St. Louis and New Lenox, IL.
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The following phase included preparation for higher speed travel between Wann and Godfrey and from Pontiac to Joliet. Construction included building new sidings and second track, upgrades to bridges and culverts, drainage improvements, installation and upgrades to signal and wayside equipment and continued crossing and approach improvements.
Following that, work continued throughout the Chicago to St. Louis Corridor, including siding reconstructions, grade crossing improvements, fencing installation, utilities and signal improvements, and bridge construction/modifications.
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Pittsburgh Pipe is proud of the many contributions we made to this project. Throughout the construction, you’ll find our high quality steel pipes auger bored under and along the rail bed throughout the length of the project, and where our polyethylene duct encases connection improvements complying with the positive Train Control act (PTC), designed to improve rail traffic safety all across the country.
The employees and owners of Pittsburgh Pipe are proud of all of the infrastructure projects we supply across the United States!
