Footing the bill
According to TfL, some service has returned to all lines except the Circle and Hammersmith & City. Truncated service on the Metropolitan, Picadilly and District get people downtown, where riders can either transfer to an operational line or walk.
Now that investigators, engineers and work crews are working around the clock, the question arises of who will pay for all of this. While the government owns the Tube, infrastructure is maintained by a public-private partnership with three companies each assigned different lines. Of late, they have had problems meeting the requirements of their contracts, paying fines for late work.
What happens now? This insurance contract between TfL and the three infrastructure companies seems to say that they have full insurance coverage with no deductable. I'm not a lawyer, but I can anticipate some wrangling over this following the unfortunate dispute between World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his insurers over whether Sept. 11 was one terror attack or two. Metronet, which is responsible for two-thirds of the syetem, has very little on its site. Tube Lines, which holds the contract for the rest, is just as mum.
Over the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see how government reconstruction money flows and how Metronet and Tube Lines spend the money and meet deadlines. The speed at which full service is returned could provide fodder for pro- or anti-privatization forces.
Post Author:
rj3 | 10:31 AM |
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