A joint venture led by Sylmar-based civil construction contractor Tutor Perini Corp. has won a $1.18 billion contract to build a people mover guideway and three stations for a replacement AirTrain Newark system at Newark/Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

Tutor Perini is the managing partner in the joint venture; Torrington, Connecticut-based O&G Industries is a 25% partner. Reston, Virginia-based Parsons Corp. is also part of the team.

The Tutor Perini/O&G Industries pairing may sound familiar: the same two companies have joined up to build the second and third sections of the Metro D-Line Extension subway project here in Los Angeles, which are projected to cost $6.3 billion and be completed by 2027. (Please see Page 14 for more details on this project.)

The current AirTrain Newark is a monorail people mover system that opened in 1996 and connects the Newark/Liberty International Airport terminals with parking and rental car facilities and with other train routes that connect to New York City and other points around that region. It is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

But that system is nearing the end of its projected life span and, in 2019, then New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy decided to replace the system instead of upgrading it. At 2.5 miles, the replacement project is similar in length to the automated people mover system now under construction at Los Angeles International Airport.

In December, the Port Authority awarded Wolfurt, Austria-based Doppelmayr a contract worth $570 million for the design and construction of a people-mover system and another $385 million over 20 years for operation and maintenance for the system.

The $1.18 billion Tutor Perini/O&G Industries/Parsons contract is just for construction of the rail guideway and stations.