As of now, the subway is a hole in the ground, a mountain of concrete, a stretch of tunnels where workers are racing to meet President Leonel Fernández's construction deadline of early next year, in time for the presidential election in May in which he hopes to win a new term.
Mr. Thompson said the city also faced nearly $15 million in penalties for missing construction deadlines set in a 1998 consent decree with the state and federal governments in which the city, after receiving a previous extension, agreed to complete the plant by October 2011.
The new problems for Mr. Silverstein also set the stage for potentially acrimonious negotiations with the Port Authority, which owns the land, over his construction deadlines.
This contract waives all claims by homeowners for loss of use as a consequence of a contractor's missed construction deadlines.
To address that concern, Mr. Rendell said Congress could set deadlines for construction to start within a few months.
The authority said it chose the relatively remote section in the Central Valley as the first leg to be built, even though few people there are looking to use a railroad, so that construction could begin next year and meet deadlines for using federal money.
The laws setting up the construction of the Military Road established a five-year deadline for construction.
deadlines for overhauling the economy.
Deadlines for those come and go.
Set deadlines for improvement.
