El Reconstruction

I read in the Inquirer today that PKF is suing SEPTA to get out of rebuilding the West Philly end of the El. We've been over what a joke this mess has been before, but I also read that the city owns the El, which I didn't know (I believe they own the BSS as well), and the article said the city's lease agreement for SEPTA to run the El runs out next year. The full article is here:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/l ... 024493.htm

Is there any chance the city would try to run them itself once the lease ends, or let someone else take over running them? How do you think that would work? And does anyone know if they own anything else, like the trolley routes?

PKF is only responsible for the portion between 63rd and 69th Streets. They are doing the whole thing: foundation, guideway, and station reconstruction. The rest of the El has these portions divided between 3 contractors, and appears to be going much more smoothly.

It seems to me that PKF is in over their head. Does anyone know why the contract for PKF contained all construction tasks? Why make the west end separate from the rest of it? (Translation: how much money did they contribute to Street's campaign?)

A less cynical possibility is that it has something to do with the fact that this portion is largely outside the city limit.

The comment that I heard tonight on Action News was that "Septa was micro-managing the project". Imagine that.....