Losing U.S Bidder May Join Sumitomo on Green Line Job

Japanese-owned Sumitomo Corp. of America confirmed Thursday that it has agreed to meet with Morrison-Knudsen Corp. executives to discuss whether the Idaho-based company might participate in Sumitomo’s controversial $121.8-million Metro Green Line car-building contract.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission has been criticized for choosing Sumitomo to build the line’s 41 innovative but costly driverless cars in Japan. Critics said choosing a foreign contractor would worsen Southern California’s stubborn recession and hasten the decline of industry.

Criticism was especially harsh because Sumitomo’s bid for the contract was $5 million above Morrison-Knudsen’s offer. Sumitomo was chosen because LACTC designers rated it as more qualified.

Sumitomo spokesman Chuck White said that his firm, at the LACTC’s urging, agreed to “sit down and . . . talk conceptually about Morrison-Knudsen participating in the Green Line contract.” He said it was premature to discuss what the American company might do.

LACTC spokeswoman Stephanie Brady said negotiations are designed to make Morrison-Knudsen a substantive participant in construction. Any work that Sumitomo would agree to give to Morrison-Knudsen would not come at the expense of existing American subcontractors, she said.

The 23-mile Green Line, from Norwalk to El Segundo, is scheduled to open in 1995 and would be the nation’s first driverless transit system.