PHX Sky Train Guideway and Maintenance & Storage Facility

Weitz developed an under track LED lighting system with its in-house lighting expert to replace the originally designed lighting system, reducing power consumption and long-term costs. Weitz also designed the complete Emergency Walkable Cable Tray System that is used for emergency egress and to run ALL of the system wiring, fiber, etc. along the guideway. Additionally, the Radio Archway that is currently in use and will also be used in Stage 2 was designed by Weitz. This Radio Archway was a revolution for Bombardier and allowed all of its different radio systems to be consolidated into more centralized locations along the guideway, saving tens of thousands of dollars in total system cost.

The PHX Sky Train is designed to transport 3,000 passengers per hour per direction and serves, on average, 4.6 million passengers per year. The train’s ridership is dependent upon reliable service without interruptions. Using Weitz’s quality control plan, the project team was able to complete PHX Sky Train with zero warranty issues post revenue service. There were no issues with guide beams, propulsions, switching or the building.

During construction, Weitz created Quality Assurance Drawings from the many Bombardier sets of drawings. These QA sets allowed Weitz QA and Bombardier to simultaneously inspect specific areas of the work without needing multiple sets of drawings and also followed Bombardier’s sign-off process, thus speeding up the entire acceptance process by weeks at a time.

The maintenance facility was designed for expansion, with specific panels designated for future expansion. Existing services were run with the knowledge that expansion would be required and 3D modeling was used throughout for clash detection and expansion capability.

The project achieved 1,657 days without a lost-time accident!