Procuring contracts to finance, maintain, operate and upgrade infrastructure of London’s vast subway system was a $900-million process even before a spade of concrete was mixed. Lawyers, engineers and managers honed the multi-billion dollar public-private partnerships with meticulous care. Yet, with the 30-year project still ramping up, one consortium is bankrupt while the other reports profits ahead of projections.
By hiring external contractors, the Tube Lines consortium nimbly cleared numerous hurdles arising from modernizing a third of one of the world’s oldest and biggest metros the London Underground. On the rest of the system, alleged grey areas in scope setting tested the self-performing strategy of the Metronet Rail team to destruction.