Metro and FTA disagree about cost of Light Rail

This, from the River Oaks Examiner, is pretty interesting…

Letters to the Metropolitan Transit Authority from the Federal Transit Administration place the baseline price of building both the North and Southeast light rail lines at almost $1.58 billion.

Based on the correspondence, dated Aug. 17, that would place the cost of the 11.84 miles of construction at $133.5 million per mile.

Metro Chairman David S. Wolff has stated in past, including at a May 20 news conference at the Metro board room, that the cost would be $72 million or $73 million per mile — or about 45 percent lower.

Now, a 45% discrepancy in prices is a pretty big deal – not that we’re not expecting as much from METRO…  How do they account for the difference? According to Wolff the FTA is accounting for all the costs related to getting the rail lines operable (ROW acquisition, rolling stock, etc), whereas METRO is only talking about the cost of construction.

That’s an interesting distinction, but I tend to think the FTA is the one who is being more honest in their figures. It’s not like METRO doesn’t have to pay for the trains…