County Panel OKs Metro Rail Takeover
The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, intensifying the turf war between the region’s two transit agencies, voted Wednesday to establish a subsidiary to take over construction of Metro Rail and all other rail projects.
But Al Perdon, assistant general manager of the rival Southern California Rapid Transit District, which is building the first leg of the Metro Rail subway, said the RTD remains opposed to allowing the commission to assume control of the $1.25-billion project.
Perdon said bringing in a new team to run the project, which an audit ordered by the commission concluded is $135 million over budget, would only drive up the costs and create a third tier in the county’s overlapping transportation bureaucracy.
Neil Peterson, the transportation commission’s executive director, told the panel--which voted 8 to 3 in favor of the takeover--he believes that the commission has legal grounds to step in and take control of the project because of the cost overruns.
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