Hampton Roads Transit has decided to purchase three light rail cars for the proposed Virginia Beach extension rather than four, according to documents scheduled for review at an agency meeting Thursday.
The transit agency, which would own, operate and maintain the vehicles, sought industry proposals in October for the manufacturing and delivery of four vehicles for a Virginia Beach extension to Town Center. It received one proposal, from Siemens Industry Inc. in November, at a cost of $25.2 million, according to the documents. The amount covered the cars, system support and spare parts.
“Upon review and evaluation of Siemens’ proposal, HRT staff determined that further discussions and negotiations were necessary prior to recommending award,” staff wrote in a summary of the contract history.
Negotiations were held Jan. 6-7 in Norfolk, and during those discussions, HRT requested additional supporting documentation from Siemens, according to the summary. HRT staff reviewed the additional information, concluded that Siemens’ vehicles met the transit agency’s requirements — including integration with HRT’s existing light rail line in Norfolk — and asked for a best and final offer from the company, the summary says.
Siemens responded with pricing scenarios of $24,984,544 for four vehicles and $21,505,825 for three vehicles.
HRT then determined it could “adequately service the extension” with just three vehicles and a reduced corresponding spare parts purchase.
HRT spokesman Tom Holden said the change to three vehicles from four was the result of more detailed design work on the project that showed how many cars are necessary for the extension. The expectation of four vehicles came from design work that was done to just a 5 percent level, he said. As engineers went from a very broad look of the track to something much more detailed, “three cars was determined to be the appropriate number,” Holden said.
Virginia Beach’s contact for the light rail project, Transit Planning Manager Brian Solis, directed questions on the vehicle purchase to Hampton Roads Transit.
Hampton Roads Transit’s Operations and Oversight Committee is scheduled to review a staff recommendation to approve the proposed three-vehicle purchase with Siemens at its meeting Thursday. The transit agency’s full governing board would have to approve the contract at a later date.
Under a cost-sharing agreement between the city and state, HRT would be able to hold off on giving Siemens notice to proceed on the work until Dec. 2, weeks after a possible public referendum on the light rail extension. The cost-sharing agreement anticipates a 30-month time frame for delivering the vehicles, which would allow for the line to begin operations by December 2019.
The Virginia Beach City Council is not scheduled to vote on approving construction of the proposed 3-mile extension until mid-2017, according to the city’s project page.
The proposed contract that HRT lists a final purchase price for the three vehicles from Siemens of about $19.8 million. It is unclear from the contract summary why that is lower than what it says was company’s best and final offer of $21.5 million. Holden said the agency was still working to provide an explanation for that.
