Purple line extension construction update thread

[bluelineshawn]

Feb 25, 2019 13:27:17 GMT -8 culvercitylocke said:

Feb 23, 2019 7:43:51 GMT -8 bluelineshawn said:

Phase 1 of the purple line extension is currently 1 year ahead of schedule.

That’s impressive, living less than a mile from wilshire/fairfax from 2012-2018, the construction seemed utterly interminable and insanely slow to get anything accomplished. phases 2 and 3 seem significantly ahead of where phase one was at the same point in time

Phases 2 and 3 are indeed planned to go faster because they presumably have more money available earlier. We can't really blame the contractor if they aren't being paid for an accelerated schedule.

[culvercitylocke]

Soyeon is about halfway done (approx 4800 feet), Elsie is 35% done, (3300 feet)

Reach 1 is 9670 feet.

[culvercitylocke]

Digging must really be going well, metro is expanding hauling hours for tunnel spoils.

Also big concrete pours coming up at fairfax, I wonder if they’re doing the sandwich floor.

[numble]

I am not sure how accurate Tutor Perini’s CEO is regarding the project, but these are the things he said about Purple Line at the company’s recent earnings call on February 27, 2019:
seekingalpha.com/article/4245039-tutor-perini-corporations-tpc-ceo-ronald-tutor-q4-2018-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single

On the West Coast, we continue to ramp up our work on Purple Line Section 2 in Los Angeles, with the construction of the tunnel launch pit commencing in Century City, after it’s completed we will begin the tunnel boring machine assemblies followed by the start of tunneling in January.

In Beverly Hills we are beginning the relocation of utilities in advance of commencing with the Wilshire Station in Beverly Hills later this year.

Not only that Purple Line 2 is ramping up dramatically. We will start the Wilshire/Rodeo station this year. We are finishing the launch bid this year. We expect to put the tunnel machines in the hole. So that will be a significant ramp up.

Purple Line 3 will be awarded tomorrow. We probably won’t get a notice to proceed until April or May. But initially this year there’s still $100 million of high margin costs associated with Purple Line 3.

He seems confident they will win more of the contracts going forward and they plan to charge more due to limited competition:

As I have said before evidenced everyday by the minimum competition in the billion dollar plus projects. There are very few companies in the United States that can successfully build a billion dollar plus infrastructure projects and as in such there are very few bidders as we go forward.

As a reminder, the projected margins on our new awards from last year in the backlog on average are considerably higher than the existing margins that we have earned over the past years and we expect that margin to increase, as frankly, we raise our margins given the lack of competition.

So, overtime, as the older work with lesser margin burns off and is replaced by higher margin new work at an accelerated pace, we feel there is an opportunity for significant increases in both operating income and earnings per share.

I keep saying it, but the truth is in the pudding. We have now got three straight large projects for the MTA, a $1,400 million tunnel and a $1 billion for a station. Three straight contracts the total $3 billion for the LAMTA, $1,400 million job in Newark where we are the only bidder.

And as I advised our owners, if you don’t make these contracts far more contractor friendly you are not going to get bids even including us. And the fact of the matter is an owner today is fortunate if he gets two bids and really extraordinary if he gets three. So that’s the market we are in.

All of our New York City operations are working at 120% of capacity electrical, mechanical, Building, and Civil and with the reduction in size of Skanska, our largest competitor in New York and the failures of some of our New York peers, we find ourselves increasing and increasing at New York backlog to a point I have had all of our subsidiaries have to get my approval before they been any more work, because our backlogs in New York are at records, both electrically, mechanically, and civilly.

And California is booming, we meet regularly with the principals of Los Angeles MTA and with that sales tax proposition had passed, they are talking about $10 billion in Civil work going out into the marketplace over the next 12 months to 15 months and there isn’t two or three companies that even have the potential to bid it. So it is really quite an interesting time of enormous growth in opportunities in a depleted industry.

They are negotiating a $400 million change order for the California high speed rail project and he feels confident the project will continue:

Well, high speed rail is a constant dilemma and I am in touch literally on a weekly basis with the principals of the agency in Sacramento as well as the job site. We continue to have delays in the right of way and third-party agreements that they have taken responsibility for and their commitments to turn us loose in March, now look like more like June or July.

However, I am also in the midst of negotiations on over $400 million of extra work that they would like us to perform. So obviously those are very positive. I have said and they have concurred that we will not start any extra work without an agreed entitled change order and an agreed price.

So there are very positive aspects of high speed rail. The negative is we are stymied in many areas continue to be and I expect to have a meeting in the next two weeks and try to get in some manner determine when we can gear back up, because although they are State Agency they continue to struggle to do their job and their job is defined by our contractors to get there right away is out of the way get the third party agreements out of the way and get out of our way the way the contract states they would.

So it’s just a struggle. But in fairness they deal with us with integrity. They pay us when they owe us. They step up. So it’s just a continuing travail that we think in the long run will turn out well. But in the short run it’s very difficult, because we can’t earn money on cost we don’t spend.

And I will say -- one thing I’d add on high speed rail, there’s a lot of talk about are they going to go on, is it going to continue, will they ever finish it? The reality is you got to remember it’s a State of California Agency and no matter what the federal government does it pulls back, it doesn’t pull back.

First, there’s never been an instance in my 50 years of consequence that the federal government ever clawed back or was able to claw back committed funds. So my sense is this is blunt, this is rhetoric from our President and against the political direction of our state and it will be determined whether or not that realistically can be done irrespective of what can be done or not. This is the State of California which is like a country on its own.

The state will step up and fund to any gaps and fight with the federal government later. They have made it very clear that they are not going to go any further than connecting our job to Merced and there’s a short reach connecting to downtown Bakersfield on the other end. Their goal is to finish this work by 2025, which is particularly emphasized on the contracts behind those.

But that means they have got to conclude all our extra work, our delays everything associated with making us in agreement all and probably portray a completion of our job in 2021 or 2022. Because remember to complete in 2025 requires them to buy railroad cars, put in track, signals, electrification, et cetera. So they have a plan. They have shared it to me. That’s logical.

And then what they would hope is that some time during that timeframe to put it bluntly create more credibility for the agency’s operation, go back to Sacramento somewhere around 2025 and hopefully generate a way forward to move on to the next reach.

But they really are in no position to abandon a 100 miles of elevated structures and a bank wins in the middle of the state and walk away at that. That’s about the only thing everybody seems to agree on.

[numble]

The January 2019 project status reports are out for Purple Line Section 1 and Section 2.

Section 1 is 45.1% complete as of 1/31/2019, which is +1.1% since 12/31/2018. Each TBM progressed about 1,500 feet in January. www.dropbox.com/s/d1wbvim6ua2z10f/January%202019%20Westside%20Purple%20Line%20Extension%20Section%201%20Project%20Monthly%20Project%20Status%20Report.pdf?dl=0

Section 2 is 15% complete as of 1/31/2019, which is +1% since 12/31/2018. www.dropbox.com/s/yu8r2ng4a4p5vy8/January%202019%20Westside%20Purple%20Line%20Extension%20Section%202%20Project%20Monthly%20Project%20Status%20Report.pdf?dl=0

Based on the recent community update for Section 2, they are ahead of schedule for the TBM launch pit excavation. The community update says they started excavating on February 4, while the January report put the scheduled start at February 26.

[Fallopia Simms]

Why can't the Purple Line open in succession as stations are completed? These transit projects are life-transforming infrastructures that realistically are decades behind the need. For someone just to get to La Brea would make the Purple Line hugely useful while Fairfax and beyond is still being built.

[numble]

Mar 10, 2019 10:42:41 GMT -8 Fallopia Simms said:

Why can't the Purple Line open in succession as stations are completed? These transit projects are life-transforming infrastructures that realistically are decades behind the need. For someone just to get to La Brea would make the Purple Line hugely useful while Fairfax and beyond is still being built.

The construction plan is divided into 3 segments, which will open in succession. Within each segment they do not plan to construct the stations, tunnels and track work successively. For Sections 2 and 3, the plan is to start tunneling eastward from the westernmost station. It would probably take longer to open each station successively as there is half a year of testing before opening for each segment.

[culvercitylocke]

Mar 10, 2019 10:42:41 GMT -8 Fallopia Simms said:

Why can't the Purple Line open in succession as stations are completed? These transit projects are life-transforming infrastructures that realistically are decades behind the need. For someone just to get to La Brea would make the Purple Line hugely useful while Fairfax and beyond is still being built.

They also have to environmentally review separately for each minimally operable segment, so while they have done three such MOS studies they are not doing environmental reviews for every station.

[numble]

Soyeon passed Lucerne Blvd.

[culvercitylocke]

Mar 14, 2019 8:46:01 GMT -8 numble said:

Soyeon passed Lucerne Blvd.

I measure that as 0.995 miles, strange they wouldn’t announce the mile milestone moreso

[numble]

A community update meeting for Section 3: bit.ly/2TmoNy0
Tunneling scheduled to start in second quarter 2020.

[culvercitylocke]

A Gallery of metro's construction photos, lots of new ones at the top.

lametro.smugmug.com/Projects/Purple-Line-Extension-construction/

[numble]

Soyeon is about 66% of the way to Wilshire/Western, Elsie is about 50% of the way there. That’s about 18% and 15% progress in a little under 1 month.

[bzcat]

Go Soyeon!

[culvercitylocke]

Purple Line video

[culvercitylocke]

transittalk.proboards.com/thread/1085/purple-extension-construction-update-thread?page=11&scrollTo=40548

The Federal Transit Administration has approved Metro’s request for a Letter of No Prejudice for the Purple Line Extension’s Section 3 between Century City and Westwood. In English, that means that Metro can proceed with a contract it awarded earlier this year to construct stations, trackwork, systems, testing and related activities for Section 3.

Some background: Metro and the FTA are finalizing a $1.3-billion federal grant (officially known as a Full Funding Grant Agreement or FFGA) for Section 3 of the Purple Line Extension. That money will be combined with local funds from Measures R and M to build Section 3, which has an estimated cost of $3.6 billion. Metro also received FFGAs for Sections 1 and 2 of the Purple Line Extension — $1.25 and $1.1 billion, respectively.

Section 3 will run for 2.56 miles from the Century City Station to two stations in Westwood — one at Wilshire and Westwood boulevards and the other in front of the Westwood VA Medical Center, just west of the 405 freeway.

In Sept. 2018, the FTA also gave Metro the go-ahead to begin tunneling work on section 3. In addition, in Nov. 2018 the FTA allocated Metro the first $100 million of the FFGA. Again, in plain English, the FFGA is not a completely done deal yet but the FTA’s actions this week indicates the deal is progressing well.

[bzcat]

So any updates on how TBM will be used in section 3?

Still west to east from VA to Century City?

[numble]

Apr 22, 2019 16:27:32 GMT -8 bzcat said:

So any updates on how TBM will be used in section 3?

Still west to east from VA to Century City?

Yes, this is from the contractor’s technical approach document: “Tunnel excavation will commence from the tail track exit shaft and staging area at the Army Reserve, through the unexcavated Westwood/VA Station and Westwood/UCLA Station in route to the terminus just west of the Century City Constellation Station.”

[numble]

Soyeon is 75% of the way to Wilshire/Western. That means a bit over 2,400 feet to go. Based on the recent tunneling rates (~1800 feet in March, 1,400 feet in February, but only ~650 feet so far in April, as there was maintenance this month), it seems she should reach Wilshire/Western in less than 2 months.

[numble]

Larchmont Buzz reports that Soyeon has crossed Crenshaw and Elsie is around Plymouth:
www.larchmontbuzz.com/larchmont-village-news/purple-line-construction-progress-recounted-in-two-recent-meetings/

Soyeon has just crossed Crenshaw Ave. (about 7,000 feet along the route), while Elsie is a bit behind, just past Plymouth Blvd., at about 6,000 feet.

[numble]

Purple Line Newsletter: bit.ly/2UVZl2Y

Soyeon, the first TBM launched, has passed Bronson Avenue, more than a mile from her starting point at the Wilshire/La Brea Station. She has excavated 7,303 feet or 76 percent of her task. Elsie stands midway between Windsor Bl and Lorraine Bl, approximately 6,300 feet from her starting point. Elsie has completed 65 percent of the distance between the Wilshire/La Brea and Wilshire/Western stations.

[numble]

Here are details on how Tutor Perini would excavate the stations after the TBMs have bored through the area. This is from the Section 3 documents which I obtained through a public records request, I assume Section 2 has a similar approach.

[numble]

Soyeon is over 80% of the way to Wilshire/Western.

[culvercitylocke]

The purple phase two tunnel launch box began excavation on feb 4 and has excavated to depth of a mere 15 feet (of 100 feet) in spite of a full street closure. Since this is a Ron Tutor production, they’re asking for a six month extension of the street closure.

Over the 75 working days of excavation, this a rate of 2.4 inches per day. At the current rate of excavation it will take them 425 working days to finish excavating the launch box.

[numble]

From Tutor Perini’s latest earnings call, they expect tunneling to start sometime between November and January. He says November earlier in the call, but then says December/January later in the call.

[numble]

April 2019 status reports are out for Sections 1, 2, and 3.

[jahanes_]

May 17, 2019 14:56:50 GMT -8 numble said:

From Tutor Perini’s latest earnings call, they expect tunneling to start sometime between November and January. He says November earlier in the call, but then says December/January later in the call.

"To be totally candid, and I probably shouldn't be, all of our margins from 3-5 years ago are up 40%" Glad to know that our MTA makes this possible! This shit is a racket.

[culvercitylocke]

May 24, 2019 22:48:40 GMT -8 jahanes_ said:

May 17, 2019 14:56:50 GMT -8 numble said:

From Tutor Perini’s latest earnings call, they expect tunneling to start sometime between November and January. He says November earlier in the call, but then says December/January later in the call.

"To be totally candid, and I probably shouldn't be, all of our margins from 3-5 years ago are up 40%" Glad to know that our MTA makes this possible! This shit is a racket.

Measure M made it possible, not MTA

[numble]

Soyeon breaking through very soon.

Likely will be ahead of the estimated June 19 date in the April status report.

[metrocenter]

Jun 10, 2019 13:19:49 GMT -8 numble said:

Soyeon breaking through very soon.

Likely will be ahead of the estimated June 19 date in the April status report.

The TBMs have averaged around 40 feet per day, by my calculation (9700 feet in 238 days).

If Soyeon is still tunneling at this rate, it will reach Wilshire/Western by Wednesday!