LAB aka Livingston Avenue Bridge

Last week there were many high end white hats in ALB you know the type with letters behind their names. President of this VP of that, seems they were there for an inspection trip of the facilities and where the new bridge will land. After much hand shaking and nods of agreement construction should commence within the year possibly by spring. Looks like the old girl will finally be replaced.

In other news during this little jaunt, a VP of ?? while riding a local train asked the crew why there was no food service. She was shocked at the reply, food service will return to all Empire trains by next year. So they say.

As with everything on the railroad on believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear.

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath. That said, I'm more hopeful now than I have been in years.

Now here's just hoping they put a pedestrian/bike lane on it.

Well as is customary on Amtrak's Empire service, once again the hope of something new and shinny is alas gone. I read somewhere there is no money for a new LAB bridge. The cake must have gone to California for there high speed rail project that has yet to lay any rail perhaps...

So once again the old saying is true, believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear. Still think I will be retired before the old girl gets replaced.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... 649497.php

Livingston Ave. bridge cost estimate nears $600M

It is still unclear when the new bridge over Hudson River in Albany will be built
...
The state Department of Transportation now estimates that replacing the Livingston Avenue bridge – a key passenger-rail crossing for Amtrak trains – will now cost $550 million for the bridge construction portion.

The DOT sent a letter in reference to the project to the Capital Region Transportation Council last month, which included the updated price tag. The letter also says the project is in the final stages of delivery through a design build contract and that the total project cost would top $600 million with other added expenses, such as engineering and associated environmental work.
...

https://railroads.dot.gov/rail-network- ... eplacement

The Livingston Avenue Bridge (Bridge Identification Number [BIN] 7092890) is a rail bridge crossing the Hudson River between Rensselaer and Albany, New York. The bridge is located at Milepost QC 143.1 on the CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSX) Subdivision of the Empire Corridor, which is the principal passenger and freight route in New York State. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) designated the Empire Corridor as a High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) corridor in 1998, based on its utility and its potential for future development. The 463-mile Empire Corridor traverses 24 counties between New York City and Niagara Falls and transports both freight and passengers.

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) uses the existing bridge for passenger rail service. Trains use the bridge to serve areas north or west of Albany, including Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express route to Rutland, Vermont, Amtrak’s Adirondack route to Montreal, Canada, and service to Niagara Falls, Chicago, and Toronto. CSX and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) occasionally run freight trains across the bridge.

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) identified two feasible Build Alternatives. Both would construct a new bridge—including a lift navigation span and through-truss and girder approach spans—adjacent to the existing bridge. Both alternatives would also involve rehabilitation and reconfiguration of the Hudson Line rail bridges over Water and Centre Streets in Albany. For both replacement alternatives, the new bridge would consist of a vertical lift span with through-truss and girder approach spans. The lift span would be located east of the existing swing span within the channel maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and would be somewhat more centered within the USACE channel, which is approximately 600 feet wide at the bridge. Both Build Alternatives would also include a shared use path for pedestrian and bicycle access across the Hudson River. The two Build Alternatives are:

Northern adjacent alignment
new alignment would be skewed relative to the alignment of the existing bridge because of the needed geometry for connections on the west side of the river
Southern adjacent alignment
new alignment would be parallel and south of the existing bridge
During construction, the new bridge would be constructed span-by-span to allow the existing swing span to remain in operation until the new lift span is operational. The float-in of the final new span adjacent to the existing swing span and float-out of the existing span(s) would take place during a closure to both rail and marine traffic. Once the new bridge is complete and in operation, the old bridge would be removed.

Guess someone found a pot of gold. Tree clearing began on the north side of the bridge Tuesday. A couple of acres near the wye and towards Troy. Looks like some folks in Rennselaer are about to have a river front view.