Pittsburg-based Hitachi Rail sues MBTA for breach of contract, seeking $158 million in damages

BOSTON — Pittsburg-based Hitachi Rail is suing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for breach of contract for the installation of key safety systems and is seeking $158.3 million in damages.

The lawsuit revolves around Positive Train Control systems designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, over-speed derailments, incursions into established work zones, and movements of trains through switches left in the wrong position, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston.

In 2008, the Rail Safety Improvement Act became law, requiring Positive Train Control systems to be fully implemented by Dec. 31, 2015 on certain railroads’ main lines, including commuter rail passenger service, the complaint states.

On or about Dec. 18, 2015, the MBTA entered into a contract with Hitachi Rail to install the federally-mandated safety systems on the MBTA’s North Side Commuter Rail lines by August 2020, for a price of $338,457,134, the complaint states. The base contract was then extended by order on June 18, 2019 to add installation of Automatic train control systems, which ensure the safe operation of trains, to three MBTA Southern lines.

According to the complaint, roughly four years into the Positive Train Control Safety Project, and while the base contract PTC and South Side ATC Work was still ongoing, the MBTA “nearly doubled the PTC Safety Project work and contract value by adding the supply and installation of certain ATC systems on the five lines for the North Side MBTA Commuter Rail” and “to align the ACSES II (PTC) system architecture in the North Side to the system on the southern lines.”

According to the complaint, the MBTA accomplished this added North Side ATC work through the issuance of a change order on Oct. 7, 2019 that increased the previously adjusted initial contract price of $303,761,293 to a new adjusted contract price of $556,761,293.81--an increase of $253 million.

“The PTC Safety Project is nearing completion, but continues to be plagued by a number of problems, for which Defendant MBTA is responsible,” the complaint states. “These include delays driven by the aforementioned changes to the contractually-agreed work, ongoing lack of MBTA-supplied flagger support necessary for Hitachi Rail to perform work in the right of way, MBTA track access denials, MBTA-mandated resequencing, and COVID-19 impacts.”

“Defendant MBTA also elected to prioritize the work of other Contractors working for Defendant MBTA (including Defendant MBTA’s Operator Keolis Commuter Services, LLC), disrupting and delaying the work of Hitachi Rail and causing it further damages,” the complaint states.

Boston 25 has reached out to the MBTA for comment on the lawsuit.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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