Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: DBOM and More
November 10, 2023 | Light Rail
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: DBOM and More
Written by Alfred E. Fazio, Alfred E. Fazio, P.E., Contributing Editor
(Wikimedia Commons/King of Hearts)
RAILWAY AGE, NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE: Why New Jersey Transits Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) is a DBOM (Design-Build-Operate-Maintain) model deployment.
NJ Transits HBLR DBOM, originally led by Raytheon and Kinkisharyo (with Washington Group ultimately assuming Raytheons role) resulted in a fully built and equipped system, including light rail vehicles, a major shop and yard, and a control center in less than 41 months after award of an NTP (notice to proceed), all based upon an original 30% design.
Importantly, service quality also set a gold standard, with high quality and innovative practices employed from day one of revenue operations. Not well known is that the HBLR program went well beyond the limits of the HBLR system and employed methods of delivery other than DBOM for various major projects within the Umbrella Program.
The current revised interest in creative or alternative delivery schemes for transit systems seeks to reduce the time and cost of major extensions to existing ones or to deployments of entirely new systems. Amtrak, for example, has expressed major interest in employing COMAR (Construction Management at Risk), and the New York MTA C&D group is actively employing Design-Build on major programs. As discussed in this article, these projects comprising the larger HBLR program included a sampling of these various techniques.
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