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STV/Ralph Whitehead Associates recently contracted AMEC to provide geotechnical engineering services for the tunnel construction portion of the Heartland Corridor, a $186 million high-speed double-stack container line Norfolk Southern Railway and several private partners are building between Columbus, Ohio, and Norfolk, Va.

To be completed in 2009, the project calls for enlarging 28 tunnels from 174 to 3,302 feet to provide clearance for double-stack cars. NS’ current double-stack intermodal route in the region is more than 200 miles longer.

AMEC will review tunnel design and construction documents, and provide tunnel inspection and construction management services. The company also will construction manage work associated with modifying seven through-truss bridges, lowering tracks at three overhead bridges, upgrading nine slide-detection fences and raising overhead wires.

Work on the Heartland Corridor, which also calls for building intermodal terminals in Columbus, Roanoke, Va., and Prichard, W.Va., began last year. Construction on the tunnels will begin in the third quarter and conclude in 2009, says NS Vice President of Intermodal and Automotive Marketing Mike McClellan, adding that Rickenbacker intermodal terminal near Columbus is expected to open in March 2008.