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CASTLE & COOKE MAINLAND COMMUNITIES, PAGE 42
METRO NORTH RAILROAD CATENARY SECTION B REPAIRS
Ducci Electrical Contractors Inc. is working on the Metro North Railroad’s
catenary Section B project, which involves replacing the extension wiring
system with new technology that can better handle the elements.
Planning to Stay on Track
While working on the Metro North Railroad’s cantenary Section B, Ducci Electrical Contractors Inc. of
Torrington, Conn., had to plan around the schedule of a fully operational train line.
By Brian Salgado
R
eplacing a 100-year-old wiring system for a railroad catenary is challenging in itself. But when
the railroad insists on keeping up operations
throughout the work site, the project can become painstakingly slow as well as a scheduling nightmare.
Ducci Electrical Contractors Inc. of Torrington, Conn., is
currently working on the Metro North Railroad’s catenary
Section B in Norwalk, Conn., which involves replacing the
extension wiring system with new technology that can better handle the elements.
According to Project Manager Lee Hahn, the current wiring, which has been in place for about a
century, sags in hot temperatures and is
Metro North Railroad catepulled taut in the cold. The new wiring
nary Section B repairs
Project location: Norwalk,
has auto-tension technology, which allows
Conn.
weights at the ends of the wires to counMajor item: Wiring system
teract the temperature effects.
replacement
Lee Hahn, project manager:
This project is part of a larger scope of
“Designing something like this
work
that intends to replace the wiring
when you’re trying to keep the
along the entire Metro North line from
old system going is a challenge.”
New Haven, Conn., to New York, Hahn says.
Hahn says the biggest challenge of the project is attempting to schedule around a fully operational train line.
“We’re trying to get work done with the working railroad
because they insist on running the trains while we’re working,” Hahn says. “It slows us down considerably, but it is a
must. You can understand their point of view. They have
customers to serve and we have to try to accommodate.”
One of the problems that arise with this situation, according to Hahn, is attempting to design the project beforehand. “Designing something like this when you’re trying to keep the old system going while marrying in the
new system is quite a challenge,” Hahn says.
“Designers can’t perceive some of the problems that are
going on out there, so it requires a lot of field coordination.
You can’t just put it on paper.”
The field modifications are handled by Ducci
Superintendent Gary Walters and General Foreman Art
Adduci.
To confront any potential problems head on, Ducci and
the rest of the construction team hold weekly meetings and
also get a two-week “look ahead” from the
railroad authorities to fit in its work
around the train schedules.
“This way, they can tell us what track
we can take out,” Hahn adds.
Another advantage for the project is
Ducci’s experience in this type of work.
The company handled its first such project 10 years ago at the Metro North rail
yard in Connecticut.
Ducci also completed Section A of this
same line, and Section D, under another
project manager from Ducci, is in the
final stages. To help earn the bid, Hahn
says Ducci made a large investment in
equipment. The company bought trucks
fit with rail gear; Ducci has managed to
pick up similar projects because of this
investment in new capital.
About Ducci Electrical
Established in 1949, Ducci Electrical
Contractors is the largest privately held
electrical contractor in Connecticut and
was ranked the 55th largest such company in the United States by Engineering News-Record last year, according to
the company.
The company says it employs an average of 150 to 200 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) electricians and is signatory with all of the
IBEW Connecticut local unions, including the Local 42 Linemen and
Technicians Union.
In the last five years, Ducci says it has
installed $220 million worth of electrical
work throughout the state of
Connecticut, including:
■ $47 million for Connecticut
Department of Transportation projects,
including variable message and incident
management systems, highway illumination and traffic signaling.
Work has included accompanying
roadway duct banks for communication
and power distribution systems.
■ $68 million for the Metro North
Railroad infrastructure improvements.
These improvements include foundations, structural steel and all catenary
systems components.
■ $105 million for public and private
building work, including the complete
electrical distribution and communications systems.
Award-winning Project
Ducci was the electrical contractor for the
Connecticut Convention Center (CCC) at
Adriaen’s Landing.
The large and complex project also
earned an award of merit from New York
Construction magazine.
The cost of Ducci’s scope of work was
$20 million.
The CCC earned the award of merit in
large part for its role as the centerpiece of
the Adriaen’s Landing project to reclaim
Hartford’s Connecticut River waterfront
and its role in the city’s revitalization, according to New York Construction.
The 540,000-square-foot center opened
in June 2005, with 140,000 square feet
of exhibition space, 25,000 square feet
of meeting space and a 40,000-squarefoot ballroom.
New York Construction says it is the
largest convention facility between New
York and Boston.
The early phases of work involved
extensive utility relocation and demolition of the old CNG Building through a
controlled explosive blast, New York
Construction reports. ■
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