Not the last spike, but the last weld on LRT extension
When the final weld was made on the Hiawatha light-rail transit (LRT) extension to a shared station with the Northstar commuter-rail line in downtown Minneapolis on November 5, the moment was akin on a local level to the driving of the last spike on the transcontinental railroad.
“This connection will create a 52-mile passenger rail network for the Twin Cities, 12 miles for Hiawatha and 40 miles for Northstar. The network will increase to 62 miles when Central Corridor begins service,” said Mark Fuhrmann, director of the Northstar and Central Corridor projects. Fuhrmann also was chief financial officer of the Hiawatha project.
Welders Britton Carpenter and Brian Downey of Chesapeake Thermite Welding finished the final welds in the Hiawatha LRT extension on Nov. 5.
See a series of photos illustrating the track welding process.
The milestone marked the beginning of a light-rail connection between St. Paul and Minneapolis and between the Twin Cities and communities on the Northstar commuter rail line. Central Corridor LRT trains from St. Paul will operate their last mile in downtown Minneapolis from a point near the Metrodome to the Hiawatha extension when Central Corridor service begins in 2014.
New station will operate on two levels
Commuters on Hiawatha and Central Corridor LRT trains will board and disembark at the Minneapolis Multimodal Station being built on the Fifth Street North bridge next to the new Minnesota Twins stadium. The same station also will serve Northstar commuter trains traveling to and from Big Lake on BNSF Railway tracks, terminating below the bridge. Stairs, elevators and escalators will take commuters from Northstar trains on the lower level to Hiawatha and Central Corridor trains on the upper level. Hiawatha LRT trains will begin operating over the extension from the Warehouse Station to the new station at the same time Northstar begins service late next year.
No dignitaries were on hand to make speeches and there was no fanfare as welders Britton Carpenter and Brian Downey of Chesapeake Thermite Welding, a subcontractor, finished the final welds in the intersection of Fifth Street and First Avenue by the Warehouse Station.
The welders worked behind barricades as motorists and pedestrians passed through the busy intersection and Hiawatha trains picked up and dropped off commuters at the nearby station, but the public gave no heed to the significance of what was occurring. The men placed a clamp where the rail was to be joined, heated the spot with an acetylene torch, placed a metal bucket with chemicals over the spot and set off a chemical reaction with a fuse. Stepping back, they watched as sparks shot several feet into the air for about 30 seconds, turning the cold steel to molten metal so the two could pound and grind it. And that was it.
By Thursday, crews in yellow slickers were working in the rain to install rebar in preparation for the pouring of concrete to create embedded track so autos on First Avenue can drive smoothly across the spot.