Waxman Calls for U.S. Probe of Subway : Transportation: Lawmaker urges review of construction problems. He cites a string of safety and cost concerns.

Saying the interests of taxpayers and future subway riders are at stake, Rep. Henry A. Waxman on Monday urged U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena to launch a broad review of construction problems that have beset the Los Angeles project.

“They are serious problems,” Waxman said in a letter to Pena, citing articles in The Times over the past 13 months regarding “the presence of methane gas and hydrogen sulfide in some stations, tunnel walls that were built much thinner than contract specifications and ground sinkage along Hollywood Boulevard of up to nine inches.”

Waxman requested a “formal review of these problems--including the performance of the Metropolitan (Transportation Authority), its subway construction contractors, and its management firm--to determine what federal action is appropriate under the circumstances.”

A spokesman for Pena said that the department had not yet received Waxman’s letter and was not in position to respond. In Los Angeles, MTA officials also declined to comment, pending receipt of the letter.

In an interview last week, the MTA’s chief executive officer, Franklin E. White, said the agency must do a better job of enforcing contract requirements and obtaining in a timely fashion the finished subway that is costing the public $3 billion.

Waxman, whose questions in the mid-1980s regarding the presence of underground gas fields forced a re-routing of the proposed subway, said in his letter to Pena that not all of the safeguards recommended before construction were followed. For instance, he cited a Times article of last May reporting that the five subway stations now open to the public were built without gas sensors at passenger level.

The sensors were recommended by a panel of experts, some of whom Waxman appointed, as a way to detect hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that is heavier than air and may otherwise escape accurate detection by sensors located near street level, in exhaust ducts.

The same article, Waxman noted, reported that a plastic liner installed to insulate the tunnels and stations from both hydrogen sulfide and methane gas was routinely punctured. According to a chief inspector who oversaw the work, necessary repairs were at times blocked by a contractor’s superintendent.

Outside specialists retained by the MTA said last March, in response to the articles regarding the thin tunnel concrete, that the agency’s construction management firm, Parsons-Dillingham, fell short of “acceptable industry practice” in its inspections of the structures.

Waxman, whose district encompasses Hollywood Boulevard, also indicated to Pena that he was dissatisfied with the decision of MTA officials to not enforce until last March a contract specification that would have required the subway builder to use ground-stabilizing grout during excavation. A tunneling expert retained by the MTA had advised agency officials in October, 1993, to enforce the specification.

In late July and early August, after learning of significant sinkage on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard, the MTA’s project manager decided not to order another type of grouting that engineers have said may have helped prevent further settling.

Representatives of the MTA and its design and construction management firms have said that they hoped other precautions, such as adjusting the tunnel-boring machine, would prevent the sinkage that ultimately occurred and that on Aug. 18 forced a shutdown of excavation.

Waxman, referring to a Sept. 11 article that reported both of the MTA’s grouting-related decisions, urged Pena to begin a review.

“At the core of these failures,” Waxman said, “is a pattern of what appears to be indifference to accepted construction practices and disregard of existing requirements.

“We have an obligation to the public to ensure, at a minimum, that Metro Rail is constructed according to acceptable industry practice, that contract specifications are respected and enforced, that expert recommendations are followed, and that the safety of the riding public is valued and guaranteed,” he added.

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In an interview, Waxman said that he wrote to Pena because the federal government is paying for the largest share--about 50%--of the subway’s design, construction and oversight. Waxman said that he believes the best way to ensure that taxpayers are getting what they pay for is to insist upon increased accountability for those responsible for the project.

Engineers retained by the Federal Transit Administration have for the last few weeks been reviewing the sinkage along Hollywood Boulevard. Stewart F. Taylor, the FTA’s regional administrator, said the review is centering on whether the tunneling can be resumed safely. He said that the agency is not seeking to assess fault or responsibility for the matter.

“I don’t think we’re looking at pointing fingers at anyone,” Taylor said. “We certainly are not.”