Maryland takes over contracts on Purple Line construction after contractor quits
Source: Washington Post
Maryland takes over contracts on Purple Line construction after contractor quits
By Katherine Shaver
10/9/2020, 8:32:54 p.m.
The Maryland Transit Administration has taken over hundreds of subcontracts to continue the Purple Line’s construction since the contractor quit over a reported $800 million in unpaid cost overruns, state officials said Friday.
The project’s contractor finished securing construction sites and began turning over the project to the state Friday, said a spokesman for Purple Line Transit Partners, the consortium of companies managing the project under a 36-year public-private partnership.
It is PLTP’s construction contractor, a joint venture led by Texas-based Fluor, that quit over the cost overruns. Maryland officials said they are continuing to negotiate with PLTP over whether the project’s larger $5.6 billion partnership can be saved.
Maryland Transportation Secretary Gregory Slater said the state “officially took over the day-to-day management” of the 16-mile light-rail project through Montgomery and Prince George’s counties Sept. 28. Matthew Pollack, the state’s Purple Line project director, met with subcontractors Sept. 30 “to outline the next steps,” said Erin Henson, spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Henson said it then took time to figure out what work could continue. Most new construction stopped in mid-September, after a Baltimore judge ruled that the contractor had a legal right to quit.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/maryland-takes-over-contracts-on-purple-line-construction-after-contractor-quits/2020/10/09/94fc0c90-0a80-11eb-a166-dc429b380d10_story.html
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See also: Purple Line (Maryland) (Wikipedia)
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Source: Maryland Matters via WTOP
MDOT takes over rail contracts from Purple Line contractors
Bruce DePuyt | @marylandmatters
October 10, 2020, 8:27 AM
Just weeks after work on the Purple Line ground to a halt in the wake of a bitter, years-long financial dispute, the state Department of Transportation announced on Friday that it has assumed numerous key construction contracts.
The move is the first tangible sign that MDOT intends to make good on its promise to jump-start the 16.5-mile project, despite the demise of the agency’s relationship with the financing consortium, Purple Line Transit Partners, and its prime subcontractor, Purple Line Transit Constructors, last month.
Despite the assumption of contracts, the state’s Transportation secretary insisted that MDOT is “committed” to ongoing negotiations to bring PLTC back to the project. A dispute over nearly $800 million in cost overruns led the firm to exercise its right to walk away with the line partially built.
The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) officially took over the project on Sept. 28. MDOT senior official Matthew Pollack is now serving as Purple Line executive director for the agency.
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Read more: https://wtop.com/maryland/2020/10/mdot-takes-over-rail-contracts-from-purple-line-contractors/