The Illinois Department of Transportation has selected PB as program manager for the high-speed rail, 284-mile signature route from Chicago to St. Louis, with $1.1 billion in Federal high-speed rail funding targeted for this project.

The Ohio Department of Transport has selected a PB-led team to provide consultant services for the development of a new intercity passenger rail service on an existing rail freight corridor in the Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati 3C corridor, a distance of approximately 250 miles.

PB will carry out environmental work for various components and design for the track and capacity improvements. The project has been awarded funding of $400m by the Federal Railroad Administration.

In Florida, PB will lead the consulting team selected by the Florida Department of Transportation to undertake the planning and design of a 230-mile high-speed rail line between Orlando and Miami. The project involves preliminary engineering and environmental analysis, which includes recommending the final alignment and train technology to be used.

PB is already leading the program management team overseeing the implementation, from design to commissioning, of the California High-Speed Rail, an 800-mile-long system serving Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego.

The system will use electrified trains capable of speeds of up to 220 mph. The majority of the system will be at-grade alongside existing railroads, roads and highways. The project was recently allocated $2.25 billion in Federal funding, which will help accelerate the building of the system. This means that PB is managing projects accounting for a combined $4 billion of the $8 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) high-speed and intercity passenger rail grants awarded by the Federal Government in 2010.

PB has also been selected as one of several consultants for the Southern High-Speed Rail Commission, a three-state authority charged with planning implementation of high-speed rail in Atlanta, New Orleans and Houston.

Ian Tyler, CEO of Balfour Beatty, said: “We are delighted to have won these contracts. Building on PB's several decades of planning and analysis of high-speed rail in the US, and extensive experience of the design and management of high-speed rail projects in Asia, we are now a key player in implementing these important rail projects in the US.”

Will the new contracts enhance market position of PB?

Have your say and discuss with your peers on the InfoGrok community.

Participate by posting your comments now.