UPRR Donner Pass Tunnel

McGuire and Hester was chosen by Union Pacific Railroad Project to work on this complex project that consisted of rehabilitation of 14 existing tunnels.

Details

OWNER: Union Pacific Railroad

LOCATION: Nevada County, California

CONTRACT VALUE: $12.4 MM

AWARDS: 2010 CTF Rail Project of the Year

Type of Project

Transportation

Services We Provided

Description

Ceilings were stabilized by the utilization of rock bolts and shotcrete. Tunnel clearances were increased primarily by using a railcar mounted grinding machine which ground the existing granite rock ceilings to acceptable limits to allow double stacked rail car clearance.

Several tunnels also used controlled blasting methods to achieve the designed tunnel clearances. The longest of the tunnels was over 10,000 lf. Approximately 2,500 lf of track realignment was constructed in one tunnel to achieve sidewall clearances.

“Included in this project was considerable of ditching required in the tunnels between the end of ties and the wall of the tunnel. This served 2 purposes one was drainage and the other was to assist the track construction crews to line track to its proper location. McGuire & Hester performed safely, very efficient, and professionally in the use of their “HyTracker” which did the ditching inside these tunnels. It was the right machine to use in such tight working conditions.”

-Ken Bobert

Mgr. Special Projects

UPRR Civil Construction