By John Barna

jbarna@sjnewsco.com

CAMDEN — Three projects exceeding $17 million — the purchase of electrical power, construction of a train car maintenance annex and upgrades to the RiverLink Ferry terminal in Philadelphia— were tabled Wednesday by a committee of the Delaware River Port Authority commissioners.

The operations and maintenance committee opted to table the power purchase and rail annex proposals pending receipt of additional information. The ferry terminal project was pulled without comment by the committee’s chairman, William Sasso.

The committee was scheduled to consider spending up to $8 million for electricity in the next year — most of which would be used to power the Lindenwold to Center city Philadelphia PATCO High Speed Line. The committee was also scheduled to consider an $8.2 million contract to JPC Group of Blackwood to design and build an annex building at PATCO’s Lindenwold train yard.

The annex would be 17,000 square feet in size and would augment an existing maintenance shop that has been in use since PATCO debuted in 1968.

“Space is very limited” at the original building, Acting General Manager Cheryl Spicer observed.

The original building was designed to handle 75 rail cars. The existing PATCO fleet is 121 cars, DRPA Chief Executive Officer John Matheussen noted.

“It is a high priority project for PATCO,” Matheussen said.

Commissioner David Simon suggested he did “not see a compelling need for an $8 million facility.” He suggested the structure may be “nice to have instead of need to have.”

Spicer and Matheussen noted the current facility is at capacity and there are issues with equipment storage.

Sasso concurred “it is a tight space” working in the original building.

“We do need to have questions answered,” Sasso said, referring to the queries of Simon and others.

Matheussen said DRPA staff will “go back to the drawing board” with the project and return to the operations and maintenance committee in the future.

The proposal would go the full 16 member commission once it has received committee approval.

The power purchase pact was tabled until the DRPA brings a consultant on board. The commissioners on the operations and maintenance committee inquired what green initiatives the DRPA has looked at regarding its electricity use and whether it could “piggyback” with larger power users such as SEPTA and Amtrak to obtain a better rate.

The DRPA is spending $7.6 million annually for electricity, said Phil Spinelli, manager of technical projects. It has been required to competitively bid for power purchased in New Jersey since 2005 when deregulation went into effect in that state. The electrical energy market in Pennsylvania was deregulated as of Jan. 1.

Every penny adjustment in the cost of electricity has a $500,000 impact on the DRPA, Spinelli said.

PATCO has been able to achieve some savings as the number of car miles is 39,739 fewer than budgeted through the end of June. Passenger use is up 250,472 through the first half of the year.

Matheussen acknowledged the DRPA staff may have “put the cart before the horse” in seeking permission to begin negotiating with power suppliers prior to the selection of a consultant.

The contracting process for electricity purchases is “time-sensitive” with a short time frame between procurement decisions and contracting commitments, according to the authority.

Sasso suggested that “sometimes a consultant can be an obstacle” to bundling a purchase with other entities.

Sasso removed without comment consideration of a $1.973 million pact with Kyle Conti Construction of Hillsborough to upgrade the RiverLink Ferry terminal at Penn’s Landing and rehabilitate the barge that served as a passenger transfer platform.

The existing terminal is “outdated” and “lacks many of the amenities expected with a tourist-recreational-focused ferry service,” a summary statement prepared for the commissioners suggests. The seasonal ferry carried nearly 74,000 passengers as of July 11, according to Matheussen.