MTA May Increase Contract for Rail Cars by $13.8 Million

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering adding $13.8 million today to a long troubled contract with the manufacturer of its light-rail cars, raising concern on the MTA board that the agency has mishandled the purchase and acquisition of its trains.

The MTA staff has recommended that the agency’s board boost the $201.4-million contract with Siemens Transportation Systems by $13.8 million. The agency says the money is needed to close out a deal that has dragged on since 1993.

Originally, MTA contracted with the Sacramento-based Siemens to provide 72 sleek P-2000 rail cars for $215.4 million, though it eventually lowered the number to 52 cars and reduced the value of the contract.

Almost from the start, the MTA and Siemens have sparred over the contract.

The MTA alleged that Siemens has been as much as three years late delivering its cars. Significant numbers of those cars have arrived at the MTA with problems ranging from paint flaws to breakdowns in power systems, according to internal MTA documents obtained by The Times.

Siemens contended that the cars it was delivering met specifications and that changes in the design of the cars caused delays.

An MTA spokesman said that most of the $13.8-million increase would pay for the increased oversight of the Siemens contract, with $2.75 million for claims made by Siemens related to extra work the company says it has been forced to do.

County Supervisor and MTA board member Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, whose district includes the agency’s Blue and Green Line railways, said she was very concerned that adding millions of dollars to the contract would be wasteful.

Siemens officials had no comment on the matter.