PUEBLO, Colo. — Transportation Technology Center Inc. will build a new railroad research and testing center in Pueblo, replacing the nearby facility it has used for more than 40 years.
The Pueblo Chieftain reports that TTCI, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads, will build its new test track at PuebloPlex, a 16,000-acre site on the former Pueblo Chemical Depot with manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution facilities, among other tenants. The site already has more than 40 miles of on-site rail. TTCI’s headquarters and laboratories will be located at another site, the Pueblo Memorial Airport Industrial Park; construction of the new engineering and lab facilities is already under way.
The changes come after the Federal Railroad Administration, which owns the current facility about 20 miles northeast of downtown Pueblo used by TTCI, awarded a $571 million contract for use and maintenance of the FRA-owned facility to aerospace, engineering, and technology firm ENSCO [see “Digest: Developer’s agreement with Metra …,” Trains News Wire, March 10, 2021]. That necessitated the development of new facilities for TTCI, which, in PuebloPlex, found a site just south of its current location. Activity at the new facility is expected in early 2022 with emergency response courses; the PuebloPlex site will also include a high-tonnage testing loop, curve negotiation loops, and other track infrastructure.
