The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has selected Atkins to serve as a General Engineering Consultant (GEC) in support of Metro’s rail network operations, maintenance and expansion plans.
Metro is the third largest transit agency in the US and it operates the country’s most modern and cost-efficient rapid transit system, and carries about 50 million passengers a year.
Jon McDonald, Atkins’ business sector manager, said: “Los Angeles is one of the nation’s largest, most populous counties and Metro is the country’s third-largest transit agency, having built six rail lines with almost 90m of track and 80 stations since opening its Blue Line in 1990.
“With funding from a variety of sources, the Authority is likely to spend more than $20 billion over the next 10 years to maintain, upgrade and expand its rail system. This selection positions our transit and rail group with a major new client in a new market, and we’re pleased that Metro recognises the wide range of skills we bring to the table.”
Atkins will be part of a GEC framework and companies are selected on an as-needed, task-order basis to bid to provide such services as:
• computer-aided design and drafting (CADD)
• train control design, programming, and review
• communication design
• traction power design and relay calibration
• civil/facilities design.
In the US, Atkins has collaborated with some of the country’s largest rail transportation networks. The company currently serves as GEC for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority in Atlanta, Georgia and has provided system engineering and asset management services for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Atkins has also worked with Miami-Dade Transit in Florida, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in Oakland, California and the Charlotte Area Transit System in North Carolina.
Atkins is the world’s largest rail systems engineering consultancy, with more than 1,600 licensed and qualified engineers. Internationally the company has worked with Network Rail, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway in the UK and Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway; Denmark’s Copenhagen Metro; Kuwait Metropolitan Rapid Transit System Project; and the Dubai Metro.