Officials at Port Authority Transit say they'll award contracts next year to start a $500 million phase of Light Rail Transit work that has been stewing in the pot of bureaucracy for at least a decade.

Included in the contracts are the buying of 27 "new generation" light-rail vehicles, a process that will take several years. Potential manufacturers of LRVs, which cost about $3 million a piece, are already reviewing specifications.

Also in the works for PAT is about $35 million dollar worth of improvements to 10.5 miles of "the T", opened in sections from South Hills to Downtown between 1985 and 1987, to being the system into lock-step with newer technology and industry standards. These include improvements with more modern controls and signals, which will help speed operations and make a jaunt in "the T" more rider-friendly.

In addendum, preliminary engineering is expected to be finished by this summer on the 12 miles that comprise what PAT has dubbed "Stage II" - the rebuilding of the Drake, Library and Overbrook lines.

What does this all add up to? The total cost has increased to an estimated $500 million. The amount is what PAT paid for Stage I, including the Downtown subway and the 55 LRVs in the mid-1980s. It is also $180 million more than a 1993 estimated cost for Stage II.

Port Authority Transit already has about $100 million in funds lined up for the work, mostly from the Federal Transit Administraion.

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