Not sure who is gonna pay the final tab for the 31 sections of rail that were damaged by “improper use of torches,” but it sounds like most of the sections have already been replaced. (30 of the 31 cracked/damaged sections replaced so far) Metro spokesperson Hillary Foose said.. “”The new rail is in, and they just have to test it and pour the concrete back around it.” Today, the paper reported that the tab is “more than $600,000”
We know that testing in Tempe and in Phoenix has been going on and appears to be doing fine. A few issues may have come up but overall, it appears everything is just swell.. The last year and a half, or so, I have been to many public meetings discussing light rail construction and have been pretty impressed. Not impressed with the meetings and some of the “interesting” complaints that come in but impressed with how much each contractor puts in to their section. You see, there are many different contractors involved in this HUGE project. I sometimes get the impression that people think they just tear up a road, throw down some track and, bam, we have light rail. I don’t think it is much of a stretch to say that $600k lost, by “someone” in a $1.4 Billion project is going to cause any major delays. It might not be the exact press they want, but I doubt it is going to derail the system..
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