Updated: June 28, 2024 12 p.m.
If you listen close enough you can hear the utter sound of frustration coming out of the municipal complex in Bristol Township Thursday as the scheduled work on the Randall Avenue Bridge will now be delayed until the middle of next month documents obtained by Lower Bucks Source show.
A document from Amtrak to township officials cites two reasons for the delay in scheduled repairs that were set to begin on Friday with a 55-hour outage on track four scheduled.
“Amtrak has not had sufficient time to review the …site specific work plan and cited a ” heat related infrastructure issue along the northeast corridor last week with the companies “manpower and resources” shifted to maintenance of that issue because of anticipated heavy travel during the Independence Day holiday week the document reads.
Amtrak, company officials say, needs 30 days to review such plan and says it received their copy on June 17, 10 days ago.
The contingency plan now in place calls for the track four shutdown to occur the week of July 19 to July 24, 2024, the document shows.
Bristol Township officials were not immediately available to confirm the contents of the letter, however, it is signed by an Amtrak official who oversees company projects in the region.
It was just a week ago officials “with fingers crossed” announced the work on the bridge – now shut down for more 16 months – was set to begin on June 28 (tomorrow).
“Amtrak looks forward to the Randall Ave Bridge remediation and has appreciated all the joint coordination between the agencies,” ends the document.
On Friday morning Township Manager Randee J. Mazur responding to a request for comment on this story said: The project is now set to start on July 12, 2024 (pushed from 6/28 start). Amtrak experienced heat related ET (electric traction) infrastructure issues along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) during the week of June 17th-June 21st. Amtrak ET manpower resources have been shifted towards maintenance in anticipation of the heavy travel week before, during, and after the Fourth of July holiday week -weekend, which exactly resembles the reporting of Lower Bucks Source.
Editors Note: Lower Bucks Source is not providing a copy of the document cited in the story since it would reveal the identity of the source (s)
