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New Jersey Transit’s board March 14 approved $11.6 million in contracts leading toward the agency’s Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link groundbreaking planned for May.


The link’s first segment would serve downtown Newark, extending the Newark City Subway between Newark Penn and Newark Broad Street stations.


"The Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link is a major milestone in the history of the region’s transportation network," said NJ Transit Executive Director Jeffrey Warsh in a prepared statement. "For the first time ever, the Morris & Essex Lines will connect to the Northeast Corridor in Newark."


Contracts awarded include $785,000 to Underground Utilities Corp. to relocate water and sewer utilities; a $4.8 million contract extension to joint venture partners BRW Inc. and Parsons Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglass Inc. for design support and construction assistance services; and a $6 million contract amendment with joint venture partners F.R. Harris Inc. and STV Inc. for construction management services.


Water and sewer utilities must be relocated prior to beginning tunnel construction in Minimum Operable Segment 1 (MOS-1). Design support, construction assistance and construction management services are needed to ensure the work is designed and completed to cost and time specifications.


NJ Transit estimates MOS-1 will cost $207.7 million, and will be funded by Federal Transit Administration and State Transportation Trust Fund dollars.