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Yesterday, Amtrak announced it awarded two contracts totaling $49.5 million for major upgrades to maintenance facilities in Los Angeles and Hialeah, Fla. The projects are funded by federal stimulus dollars.

Amtrak awarded a $24.5 million contract to Kemp Bros. Construction Co. for the L.A. project and a $25 million contract to Dana B. Kenyon Co. for the Hialeah project, which is located near Miami.

To be completed in February 2011, the projects call for building structures to cover workers performing maintenance tasks outdoors, and constructing administrative offices and employee locker rooms. The upgrades will “dramatically improve the capacity, efficiency and working conditions of the shops,” which inspect and maintain passenger-rail equipment used in long-distance and state-supported corridors, Amtrak officials said in a prepared statement.

In spring, the railroad plans to award a contract for major upgrades to the Seattle maintenance facility. The project is part of Amtrak’s annual capital program.

Meanwhile, Amtrak is stepping up security in the Pacific Northwest to prepare for the 2010 Winter Olympics that’ll begin Friday in Vancouver, British Columbia. Amtrak’s police department is supporting local, state and federal counter-terrorism efforts, such as by participating with the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention & Response teams to conduct surveillance and perform random security inspections with mobile explosives detection equipment.

Amtrak operates two daily Amtrak Cascades trains from the Pacific Northwest to Vancouver.