TriMet launches outside maintenance review
Portland Tribune, December 19, 2013
TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane has initiated an outside review of the agency’s light rail maintenance system, which includes MAX vehicles and trackway.
The review will be led by LTK Engineering Services, a national firm with light rail expertise, including having helped build the MAX system. The cost is not to exceed $245,000. The budget for the Maintenance of Way and Rail Equipment Maintenance departments is more than $36 million in the current fiscal year budget.
The review comes after McFarlane reorganized the Operations Division in November and created a new Maintenance Division to provide greater focus and accountability on vehicle and rail system reliability.
The timing of the announcement of the reorganization of the maintenance division and the outside audit is especially curious given that earlier in the year, the Algamated Transit Union complained of, "unsafe conditions on MAX trains and tracks, including a cracked rail and corroded switch boxes. In response, the Oregon Department of Transportation inspected the trains and tracks the next month. It issued a report saying there were no safety problems, and that only routine maintenance was required. " http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/200939-union-chief-questions-trimet-reorganization
So, not only is Trimet proving once again how terribly expensive light rail is to build and maintain, by hiring outside experts to do a second safety assessment following ODOT's, it shows how powerful the union is at getting its way. Another quarter of a million dollars spent to repeat what state inspectors alread did.
So, not only is Trimet proving once again how terribly expensive light rail is to build and maintain, by hiring outside experts to do a second safety assessment following ODOT's, it shows how powerful the union is at getting its way. Another quarter of a million dollars spent to repeat what state inspectors alread did.
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