CITY WATCH : Finish the Job

After four months of investigation, an independent panel of engineering experts has given the Metropolitan Transportation Authority good news and bad news about the Red Line subway.

The good news is that the 4.4-mile-long subway is structurally safe. Its tunnels and five stations even rode out the big Jan. 17 earthquake without serious damage.

The bad news is that--as The Times first reported months ago--the concrete used to line the tunnels is in many places not as thick as called for in contracts with the builder, Tutor-Saliba Corp. In a related report, experts concluded that the company that oversaw Tutor-Saliba’s construction work, Parsons-Dillingham, had fallen short of “acceptable industry practice.”

The reports mean that soon the local elected officials who sit on the MTA board will have to make a very hard decision. Should MTA allow Parsons-Dillingham and Tutor-Saliba to keep working on future segments of the subway, as they have been contracted to do? Or should the MTA opt for other builders to complete the subway? The process could be politically painful, because both firms are local and well-connected.

But whatever decision is made, there is no question about one thing: The subway’s problems are not the taxpayers’ fault, so no public money should pay for repairs. Tutor-Saliba and Parsons-Dillingham did not meet their full contractual obligations on the Red Line. They must pay for all the repairs needed to set things right or be allowed to go back into the tunnels and do the job right.