Hampton Roads Transit awarded the fifth light-rail construction contract Thursday, for the installation of the electrical equipment and systems that will make the trains run in early 2010.
The $27.7 million contract was awarded to Truland Systems Corp. of Reston. The contracted amount is about $600,000 under budget.
Truland will furnish and install overhead poles and wires, electrical substations and grade-crossing signals and gates along the 7.4-mile train route in Norfolk.
The line will run from Eastern Virginia Medical Center through downtown to the city line at Newtown Road. It is projected to carry 6,000 to 12,000 passengers a day.
Of the first four contracts already awarded, two were slightly under budget, one was a little over and one was significantly over.
The $42.4 million contract awarded to Skanska USA Southeast Inc. in May to lay track from Harbor Park to the western end of the line was nearly $15 million over budget.
HRT officials said there's ample contingency money in the $232.1 million budget - nearly $29 million - to cover the difference.
Four more contracts have yet to be bid: for stations, demolition, park-and-ride lots and a maintenance facility.
While any overruns beyond the contingency money would have to be covered by the city of Norfolk, HRT officials are working to identify additional resources in case the project goes over budget.
The Federal Transit Administration has committed $128 million to the project. The city has dedicated $33 million, and the state will contribute $31.9 million. About $39 million is coming from other federal sources.
HRT leaders said they are preparing for possible changes to the project's schedule and budget. Light rail is expected to start operating in early 2010, but that schedule will likely slip, said Michael Townes, HRT president and chief executive.
HRT took extra time to evaluate the downtown bids because they were so high, delaying the start of that section of construction. There were also delays relating to demands by Norfolk State University for the section of rail being built next to the campus.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
"Schedule will slip"
There is the first sign of HRT's inability to manage a construction project. The fact that they took extra time to review Skanska's bid because it was over budget is not true. It was over budget because HRT had no clue what the work would truly cost. They are ill informed, inexperienced, and busy covering their tracks so no one will find out that they don't know what they are doing. Before this project is completed, I predict it will be over budget, completion will be expensively late, and the City of Norfolk will have to somehow make up the difference.
just a forecast of what is to come
Over budget, cost overruns, unrealistic figures--all at the Norfolk taxpayer's expense--boy this is a surprise! The train hasn't left the station and the ticket to ride is going higher and higher.