Siemens Delays Opening of First Caribbean Subway

Germany's hi-tech image image took another beating today, when technology giant Siemens found itself facing legal disputes over delays in building the first Carribean subway. The inauguration of the San Juan subway in Puerto Rico, which was supposed to have been completed last year has been delayed several times, the last time being the end of 2003. Now, the Puerto Rican Transportation Ministry is demanding a contractual penalty of 9 million dollars from Siemens for the delay. In 1996, the Puerto Rican Transport Authority had awarded consortium Siemens Transit Team the subway contract worth 1.8 billion Deutschmarks (900 million euro). The contract had been the biggest single assignment at the time for the Siemens traffic technology division.