The Los Angeles City Council on April 11 unanimously approved a $4.9 billion contract with a private consortium to build and operate an automated people mover to connect Los Angeles International Airport to nearby planned rail and car rental facilities.
The 30-year contract – billed as the largest single contract in dollar terms ever awarded by the city of Los Angeles – goes to a consortium of seven contractors known as LAX Integrated Express Solutions, or LINXS. The consortium received the highest technical score from airport staff among the five bidding teams.
As the centerpiece of a $5.5 billion plan to modernize road and rail access to the airport, the people mover will connect the central terminal area at LAX with a station for the Crenshaw/LAX and Metro Green light rail lines and a consolidated car rental facility nearly two miles to the east. It is projected to cost nearly $2 billion to build and is tentatively set for completion in 2023.
The remaining $2.9 billion of the contract is earmarked for roughly 25 years of operation and maintenance.
“Making LAX the most passenger-friendly airport in the world means giving travelers what they need and have been asking for — reliable, convenient transportation to and from the terminals,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement. “This historic investment will ensure that LAX is seamlessly connected with communities across the region.”
The Los Angeles World Airports Board of Airport Commissioners approved the contract at its April 5 meeting. That came six weeks after the board selected LINXS as the recommended developer and entered into an early works agreement, which allowed for the start of pre-construction activities such as hiring, soil testing, engineering and further design of the people mover.
The LINXS consortium is comprised of seven prime contractors:
• Fluor Corp. (Irving, Texas);
• Balfour Beatty (London);
• ACS Infrastructure Development (Coral Gables, Fla.);
• Dragados USA (New York);
• Hochtief PPP Solutions (Essen, Germany);
• Flatiron Construction (Broomfield, Colo.); and
• Bombardier Transportation (Montreal)
Bombardier Transportation, which has built several automated people-mover systems around the globe, will provide the people mover operating system, including the train cars.
The design subcontractor team is comprised of HDR Inc. (Omaha, Neb.) and HNTB Corp. (Kansas City, Mo.)
Economy, education, energy and transportation reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @howardafine.
