Monorail start-up date still is not certain

Monday, May 10, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

Las Vegas Monorail officials still can't say when the much-anticipated $650 million system will open, but they insist that it is coming soon.

"We're in final testing," monorail spokesman Todd Walker said Friday. "We're very confident that we'll be open this summer. We'll release a final date soon."

The 4-mile monorail was supposed to open in January. Glitches with mechanical and computer systems have pushed that date back several times, and the operators and contractors have more recently refused to set a specific date on the opening.

Bombardier Transportation, the Canadian contractor building the system, is potentially liable for construction delay fines of $85,000 a day until the system is completed, for a total of more than $9 million and rising. But the company and the owner are expected to negotiate the final tally.

Officials with Transit System Management, the for-profit company created to run the monorail for the nonprofit Las Vegas Monorail Inc., said Bombardier and its partner, Granite Construction, are making payment on the late fees, called "liquidated damages." So far, they've paid about $3 million, Walker said.

Jim Gibson, chief executive officer of the company, said discussions will resolve "all the open issues" once the system opens.

"When we do that, we will each have an opinion on what the delays are attributable to," said Gibson, who is also the mayor of Henderson. "I don't anticipate anything like a refund."

The system was scheduled to carry 20 million passengers in its first year and form the basis of a larger system that ultimately would connect the airport, the Strip and downtown Las Vegas.

The route runs from the MGM Grand at the south end of the strip to the Sahara at the north end.

The testing is "going very well," Walker said. "All vehicles and stations and ticketing machines and doorways -- there's an increased level of activity. We're excited about the opportunity to open the system to the public very soon."