Jun 3, 2008 9:45 pm US/Eastern
MIA's New People Mover Finally Moving In
New Airport Train System Nearly $51 Million Over Budget
Automated People Mover Should Be Operational By October, 2009
NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE (CBS4) ―
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20 new trains from Japan are being installed at Miami International Airport for the new people mover system.
CBS
There's finally a 'light at the end of the tunnel' at Miami International Airport for travelers tired of schlepping from the new terminal to the main airport.
"Liam are you tired of walking around the airport,"
CBS4's Jorge Estevez asked a very young, very tired Liam Angelos as he trudged through the terminal with his family in search of a place to rent a DVD.
"Yeah, yeah," said Liam.
New train cars were ordered for the new North Terminal, but because of construction delays, delivery was postponed for several years.
Now the 20 new train cars have begun to arrive from Japan.
"It took them longer to get them here because there wasn't any track around. Obviously you need a place to put your train," said airport spokesperson Marc Henderson.
More than four years overdue and nearly $51 million over budget, MIA officials hope to have the new trains up and running by next year.
For the last two years, the specially designed electric trains have been kept in Japan by their manufacturer, Sumitomo. Once a week, the trains were run empty on a specially designed track to maintain them at a cost of $56-thousand a month. The track, which cost $600-thousand, was also paid for by MIA.
At one point, airport officials considered scrapping the train system altogether and putting in moving walkways until a study showed it would be impossible for some travelers to make flight connections in under an hour.
Last month, the county's Airport and Tourism Committee unanimously approved a contract increase of $20.8 million for the automated people mover. According to
CBS4 news partners at the
Miami Herald because of the construction delays, the warranties on the new train cars have expired, and Sumitomo has refused to extend them.
''Our only recourse if it doesn't work is to pay them more money to replace something we never used,'' said Commissioner Sally Heyman to the Miami Herald.
Originally budgeted at $83.9 million in 1999 and set for completion in June 2004, the new automated people mover will now cost $134.8 million, an increase of more than 60 percent from its original cost, and is scheduled to be completed by October 31, 2009.
Since its inception, MIA's new North Terminal has been plagued by delays due to project mismanagement, a lack of project coordination and an incomplete design; all of these have combined to increase the terminals price tag from $975 million to nearly $3 billion. The new terminal, complete with automated people mover and new baggage handling system, is scheduled to be completed in June 2011.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
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