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Last week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s board authorized more than $340 million worth of contracts to replace mechanical train controls on the Port Authority Trans Hudson’s (PATH) 101-year-old signal system with computerized signals.

The board awarded the largest contract, at $321 million, to a consortium comprising Siemens Transportation Systems, Invensys Rail/Safetran and D/A Builders L.L.C. to design, manufacture and install the new signals. In addition, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. obtained a $21 million professional management contract to help oversee the signal project, and The Rail Safety Consulting L.L.C. obtained a $2 million contract to provide an independent assessment and certify safety standards.  

The overall signal project, which will include Automatic Train Control technology, is expected to cost $580 million. Signals will be replaced throughout PATH’s system of 43 track miles and 13 stations, while new communications equipment will be installed inside 130 new rail cars.

The project is slated to start later this year and conclude in 2017. Equipment installation will begin in 2011 and signal testing, in 2013.

Meanwhile, Hampton Roads Transit last week awarded a $4 million contract to W.M. Schlosser Co. Inc. to build 11 light-rail stations. The contract is slightly under the project’s $4.1 million budget.

W.M. Schlosser already is building a light-rail vehicle storage and maintenance facility for the agency, which is constructing a 7.4-mile light-rail starter line that’s expected to open in about one year.

Hampton Roads Transit also approved adding $1.3 million to a contract to build an elevator and stair tower for an elevated station over Brambleton Avenue at Norfolk State University.