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On Wednesday, the Federal Transit Administration told Metro it has violated federal purchasing guidelines when it agreed to buy cars from a Spanish company.
During that announcement, Metro said it would still be able to meet a 2013 completion date for the North, Southeast and East End rail lines. Now the agency says it was wrong and it won’t be able to finish that quickly. Metro says it now appears those light rail lines won’t be completed until at least October of 2014.
It still has to re-bid the rail car purchase to meet federal guidelines, which could take quite some time and delay about $900 million in federal transit funding. As part of its correction, the agency says admitting the error quickly is in line with the “new Metro” that takes responsibility for mistakes.