Metro to Siemens: Pay up for stray current testing

More in the ongoing saga of MetroRail's stray electrical current: Looks like Metro is going to go after payment from contractor Siemens, despite a refusal letter.

Last summer, Metro billed Siemens Transportation Systems $917,400 for monitoring related to the stray current between May 2005 and June 2006. No one's sure where the leaking current is coming from: Metro has tracked down and repaired points it thought were causing trouble, and it replaced metal anchors in bridges over Buffalo and Brays bayous, which helped control the problem. Still, at points where track-to-ground resistance is low, the Chronicle reports, current continues leaking into the ground. Metro and TxDOT have said there's no danger to structures over or near the rail line, including the Pierce Elevated, Southwest Freeway and South Loop, all of which cross the line, but Metro has started checking the support columns of those freeways just to be sure (and last fall, the Texas Medical Center tested several of its buildings' foundations for the same reason).

Siemens says the leaks aren't causing any problems and, in a Nov. 21 letter to Metro, called the $900K in monitoring costs "consequential," which the Chronicle says indicates "a direct and foreseeable result of wrongdoing." Siemens didn't say what Metro did wrong, but Metro CEO Frank Wilson said the agency has learned a lesson: When it builds its new rapid transit lines, it'll do so under a prime contractor, who will take responsibility for any flaws in the lines. Sounds like a good idea.