City: Subway builder knew rail was wrong
The Central Subway contractor that installed 3.2 miles of supposedly substandard track on the new line claims it acted “in full compliance” with its contract, despite being told by the city four years ago that it was using the wrong steel and needed to switch it out, city records show.
Contractor Tutor Perini and its rail subcontractor, ConQuest Contractors, claim that under the contract the highstrength rail is “not required for any of the ... track work” that is in dispute.
“In order to change something in the contract you have to go through a formal process and that didn’t happen,” says San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesman Paul Rose.
Aside from the millions of dollars in potential costs to replace the track, the issue has threatened to delay the opening of the $1.6 billion Central Subway — now scheduled to open in December 2019 — for at least an extra month.
On Monday, Maria Ayerdi, the former Transbay Joint Powers Authority boss now working for Tutor Perini on the subway project, sent San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s office a letter looking for help in resolving the dispute.
The letter included a statement from locally operated Con-Quest pleading its case and saying the cost of having to replace 201 tons of installed rail “will have an enormous impact on our company” and that if the city “succeeds in forcing our company out of business more than 60 employees will lose their jobs.”
The dispute also raises disturbing questions about city oversight of the subway, which stretches from South of Market to Chinatown.
Con-Quest said its use of “the standard strength rail” was basically acknowledged by the city when it submitted its bills on Jan. 27, 2015 — though city officials say that’s bunk, and that its position never wavered on the requirement to use high-strength steel.
In fact, in a Nov. 11, 2014, review of the track contract prepared by SFMTA, the contractor was flat out told that the proposed rail “does not conform to the current ... dimensions and properties” required in the deal with the city, transportation agency documents show.
That same day, ConQuest project manager Andy Baksheeff issued a report that appeared to acknowledge the problem and said the rails would pass muster once delivered.
The contractor reportedly raised doubts about the need for highstrength steel in one correspondence with the SFMTA in 2015, but city officials immediately pushed back, and they say they never heard another mention of the matter until an independent auditor flagged the problem two months ago.
The March 26 report from the auditor states flatly that the rails were “standard strength and not the required high strength.”
As for why the contractor apparently went ahead and installed the wrong steel even after being told repeatedly that it didn’t comply with the contract?
“At this point, we are not making any comments, but we have been having correspondences and exchanges with the city and Tutor that speak to all this,” said ConQuest project manager Baksheeff when reached by phone this week.
The final turn: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a 4-1 lead with Bay Area voters in the upcoming gubernatorial primary, according to a new 2018 Bay Area Council Poll, with 36 percent of those surveyed undecided.
The online poll of 1,000 voters in the nine Bay Area counties found Democrat Newsom commanding 31 percent of the vote. His closest rivals in the deep-blue region, believe it or not, are the two Republicans in the race — state Assemblyman Travis Allen and businessman John Cox — who each came in with 7 percent support.
Meanwhile, former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin came in at 5 percent, nearly neckand-neck with two fellow Democrats, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Treasurer John Chiang, who both scored 4 percent. Last-minute Democratic entry Amanda Renteria got 2 percent.
The numbers pretty much jibe with recent statewide polls showing Newsom well ahead and the two Republicans battling for the second spot.
Among likely June voters, Newsom’s support in the Bay Area Council Poll increases to 39 percent, with Allen and Cox each capturing 9 percent, Chiang 5 percent, and Eastin and Villaraigosa 4 percent. Renteria got less than 1 percent.
The poll was conducted between March 20 and April 3 by Oaklandbased EMC Research.
The poll quizzed voters on economic growth, housing, transportation, drought and education — with an added question on the governor’s race.
Women and younger voters were the most undecided, with 43 percent of the women surveyed saying they don’t know who they will be voting for, compared to 28 percent of the men.
Young women, in particular, are unsure about who they will support, with half of Bay Area women 18 to 49 still undecided.
Silicon Valley voters registered the lowest level of support for Newsom, with 22 percent there supporting the former San Francisco mayor, compared to 39 percent support for him in San Francisco and 40 percent in the North Bay, where he now lives.
The only other candidate to break doubledigit support in any of the nine Bay Area counties was Allen, who is from Huntington Beach. He clocked in with 12 percent support among Contra Costa County voters.
Under California’s open primary rules, the two candidates with the most votes face off in the November general election regardless of their party affiliation.
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@ sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross