Alabama, Houston port authorities award rail project contracts

The Alabama State Port Authority recently awarded a $20.1 million contract to Milord Co. to develop the first phase of the Garrows Bend Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) at the Port of Mobile.

To be built near the port's APM container terminal, the intermodal facility is part of a three-pronged development that includes a 45-foot draft container terminal and logistics park. Milord will build two operating tracks, a run-around track and a rail-car repair siding, each of which will be a minimum of 3,000 feet long. Other phase-one work includes rubber-tired gantry runways, chassis storage areas, multi-lane gates, power distribution and lighting systems, and an access road. All first-phase work is slated for completion by 2015's end.

The Garrows Bend ICTF will handle import and export containers moving through APM terminals, and domestic containers from regional manufacturers. The port authority’s new $10 million rail bridge will connect the ICTF with up to five Class Is serving the Mobile port.

"We are pleased to get this important phase of our intermodal investment program underway," said James Lyons, the authority's director and chief executive, in a press release. "The delivery of an intermodal rail facility is essential to alleviating time and cost pressures for our shippers, while expanding our market reach."

Meanwhile, the Port of Houston Authority has contracted Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN) to design the first phase of a new rail line to the Bayport Terminal.

LAN will design about 6,500 linear feet of primary track extending from an existing Union Pacific Railroad corridor along State Highway 146 into the terminal. The project represents the initial development phase of planned rail service into Bayport Intermodal Yard, authority officials said in a press release. At full development, three parallel tracks will serve the yard, handling as much as 20 percent of the overall container volume through the terminal, they said.

The design of the $13.8 million project is expected to be completed in mid-2015, with construction starting later next year.