Engineering and Construction Status

In the November meeting of the Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the V&T Railway, Ken Dorr reported that seven bids were received on Phase 2A/2B construction that ranged from $5.2 million to $6.4 million. The $5.2 million bid was accepted and was awarded to Granite Construction. Actually laying the track, however, has been a problem. November and December were months of unusually heavy snowfall and progress was all but halted because the snow made access next to impossible. Then when the snow melted, the mud made access next to impossible. Granite construction was forced to pull concrete trucks to tunnel #2 with a D8 Cat to get through the snow and mud.

Phase 2C will take them about a mile past Highway 50 and those 100% designs are being worked on. The bridge design is close to being completed. Those design plans should go for agency review sometime in December. There are various utility lines that must be moved at the bridge site and the engineers are working with the utility companies to get that done. The Commission hopes to put out the ad for Phase 2C construction sometime in March or April of 2008 and the proposed completion date would be late 2009.

On Phase 3, they hope to have the 60% design plans and right-of-way by spring. Phase 3C will cost about $11 million for the five miles through the canyon. Phase 4 is the Carson City Terminal and the engineers need to prepare a more detailed design.

We still need to agree on a reasonable and fair compensation for acquisition of the existing V&T Railroad from Virginia City to Gold Hill; following state laws, there has to be a specific appraisal process done before developing a proposal. This process could take 120 to 160 days to complete.

Also at this meeting, the Commission voted to withdraw from and cancel the 1996 Preliminary Operating Agreement entered into by the Commission and the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Co., Inc. The agreement gives both parties the right to buy the other should either choose to terminate so the Commission felt it served no purpose.