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Robotrain Project Suspended; Fidler Blasts "Boondoggle"
"I want to know how much was spent on this project to nowhere and nothing. I want to know how much of this was for cost overruns and I want to know how much was paid to Siemens," Fidler demanded, referring to the foreign corporation that had the contract to implement the plan. When the MTA testified before the Council's Transportation Committee in 2004 regarding their plan to computer-operate the L train which serves Fidler's Canarsie district, the plan had already proven to be both behind schedule and over cost. "The overruns alone will run into the hundreds of millions," noted Fidler. "When you consider that the projected revenue from one year of congestion pricing is about $300 million, the cost overruns from this project alone will dwarf that figure. It should make the public realize that the revenue from congestion pricing will not be able to significantly impact the needed improvements for our mass transit system," Fidler added. "I have said all along that Robotrain was unsafe, that attempting to allow a computer and not live human beings to run trains was not safe in this day and age. I have said that our metal heavy rail system was not conducive to this technology and all of the comparison to European models were inept. And I have said that the cost of trying to get this to work was money poorly spent. Now the MTA has finally acknowledged that the chickens have come home to roost. How many millions have been wasted by the MTA on this boondoggle since we first asked that they stop?" Fidler asked. "I am pleased that the MTA has come to their senses. But the public has a right to know what the costs are and have been. I think we deserve answers," Fidler said.
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