$9.5-Million Settlement Approved by Rail Board : Transit: Contractor had sought $39.2 million for alleged design flaws. Deal goes to LACTC.

The Rail Construction Corp. board Monday agreed to pay $9.5 million to Tutor-Saliba/Groves to settle $39.2 million in claims sought by the Sylmar-based joint venture for alleged design flaws on the Civic Center subway station and adjoining tunnels.

The settlement, which must be approved by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, would raise the cost of this particular Metro Red Line subway station and tunnel contract to $89 million--nearly 45% above Tutor’s original $61.5-million bid.

Also on Monday, the LACTC and the City of Pasadena signed an agreement clearing the way for construction of a 13.6-mile Blue Line extension to that city from Los Angeles’ Union Station. The agreement sets out who pays for utility relocations and other construction-related costs.

The Tutor settlement may come in for close scrutiny before the LACTC because Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, who sits on the commission’s board, has criticized Tutor-Saliba managing partner Ron Tutor as “the greatest change-order artist that I’ve ever seen.”

Bradley has complained that Tutor bids low on public works jobs and makes a lot of money by wringing every last cent out of subsequent change orders. Such on-the-job alterations are used to accommodate last-minute design changes and unexpected construction problems.

Complicating the latest Tutor settlement are the results of a recent LACTC audit of Tutor’s change orders on other projects. That audit resulted in the commission questioning millions of dollars of tax money Tutor spent on donations to political campaigns and nonprofit groups, personal air travel, a personal fitness trainer, football tickets and race track turf club privileges.

Rail Construction Corp. President Ed McSpedon said his agency is moving to recoup $200,000 from Tutor.

In another development, Rail Construction Corp. Vice President Charles Stark said engineers think they have worked out a final glitch in the Red Line subway cars’ braking system and expect to have 16 cars running by the end of December.

The subway cars’ brakes were hampered by faulty diodes that prevented the cars’ electric motors from being reversed and used to slow down trains in the five stations on the initial 4.4-mile segment scheduled to open later this year or early in 1993.

Because train drivers could not use the motors to slow the cars--a process called “dynamic braking”--they have test-run the trains using conventional friction brakes.