Tutor Perini is a large construction firm that is building many of the nation’s large transit infrastructure projects, including California High Speed Rail and the San Francisco Central Subway project. We have expressed concern about a disconnect between accounting profits and cash losses – a pattern that has continued since we highlighted it during the high speed […]
Archive | Statewide
Britain’s Embattled Network Rail: Why did California hire them?
In June 2015, the California High Speed Rail Authority (“CHSRA”) awarded a seven year, $700 million contract to manage the overall project to a consortium led by Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB). Network Rail was part of the winning consortium. Who is Network Rail anyway? British Rail, the old nationalized railway system, was dismembered a number of […]
Tutor Perini – still on shaky financial ground
Tutor Perini just violated a bank loan covenant and required a waiver In November, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tutor Perini had an earnings conference call for analysts that was notable for what it was missing – the earnings. Tutor ended up filing its required quarterly financial statements a week late. It needed the time […]
CARRD calls on Legislators to beef up reporting requirements
You may have heard Authority Chairman Dan Richard and CEO Jeff Morales in the media lately talking about transparency. We sent legislators new information about how the Authority is so concerned about the public perception of the project that it is willing to compromise the state’s ability to oversee the many consultants working to design the rail line. […]
Land purchases for initial construction way behind schedule
The contract signed with the design- build construction team led by Tutor Perini in August had a detailed list of properties that the CHSRA would have to buy and the date each parcel would be available to the contractor. The most recent report on January 16th notes that there are significant delays.How far behind is […]
Once again, we struggle to get public documents from the Authority
LETTER CARRD SENT TO THE AUTHORITY TODAY In 2011, CARRD became frustrated with the California High Speed Rail Authority’s unwillingness to comply with basic provisions of California’s open government laws, which were made part of the State Constitution in 2004. We sent this letter to the board. The board followed our recommendations, including the […]
State Auditor issues report and NY Times: Room for Debate Op/Eds
By now, you have likely heard that the State Auditor has issued its latest report on the California High Speed Rail Authority. The full report is available at: http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2011-504.pdf We recommend reading the long version (always!) as it provides much greater insight into the problems resulting from too many consultants and not enough staff that CARRD […]
More changes on High Speed Rail board
In December, there were two new appointees to the California High Speed Rail Authority Board to replace Richard Katz and Rod Diridon (read our article) . Spring is bringing with it two additional new appointees. As reported in the press, Quentin Kopp left the board and was replaced by Robert Balgenorth, president of the California […]
Gilroy High Speed Rail Station Comparative Visioning Document
**See Updates below** CARRD has written a letter to various agencies (Santa Clara VTA Board Members, LAFCO Board Members, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors) and the City of Gilroy leaders regarding the Gilroy station alternatives. Our letter on this issue and supporting documents area available here. At the VTA board meeting held on March […]
How many jobs will the California High Speed Rail project create?
Questions are being asked about what we can expect from the $4.15 billion of construction just approved by the California High Speed Rail Authority. Last year, we published a short report looking at the job creation claims, which applies to the current situation. The bottom line is that very few, if any, net new jobs […]