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Draft Status Report on the Northstar Commuter Rail Project. June 7, 2001 <br /> <br />specifications developed to date were necessary and supportive of <br />both lists, there were few, if any, projects that were fully correlated <br />with both lists. The Project Team agreed that it would not be cost <br />effective to proceed to full PE development of both lists of <br />improvements. It was therefore determined that PE work for track <br />and signals would continue to develop as much background <br />information and plan sheets as possible yet stop short of full PE for <br />either list pending some agreement with BNSF. <br /> <br />On April 5, 2001 the contract for Track and Signal improvements <br />was assigned by NCDA to Mn/DOT. <br /> <br />2. Results <br />Mn/DOT directed TKDA and sub-consultants to proceed to develop <br />a PE package for both lists of projects simultaneously. The <br />exception was to exclude two projects, i.e. Third Main Track and <br />the Siding at Coon Creek from the full list of BNSF proposed <br />improvements. Such development would enable Mn/DOT to <br />submit a dual package of PE defined improvements to FTA by the <br />newly imposed FTA deadline of June 1, 2000. <br /> <br />C. BNSF Preliminary Engineering Agreement <br />1. Background <br />Capacity improvements undertaken on the BNSF railroad will be <br />designed through preliminary engineering by NCDA/Mn/DOT. <br />Construction may commence for many of the improvements <br />without further design effort. More complex projects will require <br />additional design refinement beyond PE. <br /> <br />In order to assure that BNSF, the ultimate owner of the <br />improvements, is satisfied that appropriate standards and design <br />criteria are met, an agreement between NCDA and BNSF was <br />developed. The agreement proposed to compensate BNSF for <br />engineering staff time spent in reviewing engineering drawings and <br />providing input into design criteria and decisions. <br /> <br />After lengthy negotiations, contract language was agreed upon by <br />BNSF and NCDA staff and the agreement was submitted to BNSF <br />for execution on November 17, 2000. In letter from Carl Ice, BNSF <br />dated December 5, 2000, NCDA staff learned that BNSF would not <br />sign the document pending agreement on the final list of capacity <br />improvements for the Northstar Corridor. <br /> <br />Northstar Corridor Development Authority 22 <br /> <br /> <br />