Railroad Forums
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farecard wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:00 pm China, of course.......Yeah, here's how it's going to go down:
The state of Maryland will take over management of the troubled Purple Line light rail construction project if the current public-private partnership is dissolved, state transit officials said last week in a letter to subcontractors. The consortium that has been managing the project said in June it would quit the project over ongoing disputes on cost overruns [see “Builders file plan to dissolve partnership …,” News Wire Digest, June 24, 2020], and the Washington Post reports it has begun preparing to shut down work on the project. A letter to the 171 subcontractors said the state would “exercise its step-in rights” to manage the project while the state “pursues its rights and remedies” in the ongoing dispute over what the consortium says are $755 million in overruns stemming from 2½ years of delays, many reflecting lawsuits attempting to stop the project or redesign work. The Maryland Transit Administration and the Purple Line Transit Contractors face an Aug. 22 deadline to reach an agreement.
The consortium overseeing construction of Maryland’s Purple Line light rail project will be allowed to quit in mid-project over disputes with the state over cost overruns, a state judge ruled on Thursday. The Washington Post reports Judge Jeffrey M. Geller rejected the state’s request for an injunction keeping the Purple Line Transit Partners on the job while negotiations continued, saying the state has “no right to contest the termination” of the contract. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Transportation said the state remains committed to finishing the project, but would not say if it would proceed with a suit against the Transit Partners alledging breach of contract. The Transit Partners said they remained open to further negotiations. The consortium announced its plans to quit in June over more than $700 million in cost overruns stemming from construction delays — many resulting from legal challenges to the project — and design changes [see “Builders file plan to dissolve partnership building Maryland’s Purple Line,” News Wire Digest, June 24, 2020].
