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  • Major Concrete Issues Found in Silver Line Metro Extension

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1470294  by davinp
 
Significant concrete issues have been found in potentially thousands of locations along the second phase of the $2.7-billion Silver Line Metro extension in Northern Virginia, project officials say.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/traffic/t ... 29661.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1470297  by JDC
 
davinp wrote:Significant concrete issues have been found in potentially thousands of locations along the second phase of the $2.7-billion Silver Line Metro extension in Northern Virginia, project officials say.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/traffic/t ... 29661.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I think the key takeaway is that most of the 'locations' are the pre-cast station 'walls' with a smaller amount in other areas. None seemed directly to have to do with structures holding up the rails.
 #1470305  by Sand Box John
 
It would seem to me that somebody in quality control would have kept track of the weights of the raw material coming in and compared that to the weight of the finished product going out. The weight of the portland cement coming in not jiving with the cubic yards of the finished product going out should automatically throw up a red flag. Residencies in quality control should easily discover measuring calibration issues in the batch plant.
 #1470475  by JackRussell
 
JDC wrote:
davinp wrote:Significant concrete issues have been found in potentially thousands of locations along the second phase of the $2.7-billion Silver Line Metro extension in Northern Virginia, project officials say.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/traffic/t ... 29661.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I think the key takeaway is that most of the 'locations' are the pre-cast station 'walls' with a smaller amount in other areas. None seemed directly to have to do with structures holding up the rails.
It isn't just walls, but there were precast sections that were assembled for the platform itself.
 #1472994  by Sand Box John
 
Silver Line concrete problems flagged a year earlier in whistleblower lawsuit
Max Smith
WTOP
05 16, 2018 17:25

What makes this more incredible is, someone in the food chain knew something was not as it was suppose to be around the time precast panel deliveries were beginning to be ramped up.
 #1479133  by JackRussell
 
Lawsuit in the works, and it is going to be ugly:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/loca ... wt_DCBrand" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A whistleblower filed a civil lawsuit in 2016 alleging the concrete company altered testing results, including about water-to-cement ratios in some of the materials.

"I am being asked to constantly falsigy data that we send out to our clients in order to appear that the concrete is in specification," the whistleblower wrote in an email, according to the lawsuit.
So they knew about the problem back in 2016.
 #1479345  by STrRedWolf
 
JackRussell wrote:Lawsuit in the works, and it is going to be ugly:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/loca ... wt_DCBrand" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A whistleblower filed a civil lawsuit in 2016 alleging the concrete company altered testing results, including about water-to-cement ratios in some of the materials.

"I am being asked to constantly falsigy data that we send out to our clients in order to appear that the concrete is in specification," the whistleblower wrote in an email, according to the lawsuit.
So they knew about the problem back in 2016.
I wonder if it's the same concrete used in the Silver Spring Transit Center rebuild.
 #1480091  by JDC
 
STrRedWolf wrote:
JackRussell wrote:Lawsuit in the works, and it is going to be ugly:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/loca ... wt_DCBrand" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A whistleblower filed a civil lawsuit in 2016 alleging the concrete company altered testing results, including about water-to-cement ratios in some of the materials.

"I am being asked to constantly falsigy data that we send out to our clients in order to appear that the concrete is in specification," the whistleblower wrote in an email, according to the lawsuit.
So they knew about the problem back in 2016.
I wonder if it's the same concrete used in the Silver Spring Transit Center rebuild.
I don't think it's the concrete itself, but the manufacturer/supplier. For Silver Spring, wasn't the issue how it was poured on site? i.e. it was done negligently/shoddily? For the Silver Line, it sounds like blatant fraud is the issue.
 #1480223  by Sand Box John
 
"JDC"

I don't think it's the concrete itself, but the manufacturer/supplier. For Silver Spring, wasn't the issue how it was poured on site? i.e. it was done negligently/shoddily? For the Silver Line, it sounds like blatant fraud is the issue.


STrRedWolf's comment should be place in a context of sarcasm.

The issues on each are totally different.

The Silver Spring Transit Center issue was about the post tension reinforcement in the cast in place concrete and how it was not done to designed specification buy the contractor that poured the concrete.

The Silver line Phase II issue is about the supplier of off site manufactured precast concrete panels not following the aggregate, porland and hydration specifications for the concrete mix use in the precast concrete panels.

Turns out I may not have been a bad as originally believed:

Tests: Silver Line concrete problem may not be as bad as feared
Max Smith
WTOP 103.5 FM
07 18 2018 10:26
 #1480385  by STrRedWolf
 
Sand Box John wrote: STrRedWolf's comment should be place in a context of sarcasm.

The issues on each are totally different.

The Silver Spring Transit Center issue was about the post tension reinforcement in the cast in place concrete and how it was not done to designed specification buy the contractor that poured the concrete.
No sarcasm intended. I had not heard the final diagnosis of what the SSTC's concrete problems were, and barely remember the reporting; all I knew was it was a concrete problem.

(It's the old proverb: Advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice)