The ink’s not dry on the first change order of the morning. Now a second one has been approved as well — but this one could result in long-term cost savings.

The HART Finance and Project Oversight Committees just approved a $1.9 increase in fees for architectural firm HDR for extra efforts needed to implement a “modular” approach to designing three rail stations in the Farrington Highway area. Previously, each station was to be designed separately.

In a change order justification report submitted to the board, HART characterized the new approach as “practical and efficient” and said it will “improve the operation and maintenance of the stations and enhance passenger access and movement through the system.” The modular approach will be applied to all 21 stations on the 20-mile line.

HART Construction Manager Michael Yoshida told the board that the modular design approach to all 21 stations could save $100 million overall. It’s not clear if that would come off the top of the previous $25-million-per-station estimate or if it would eliminate potential cost overruns arising from a slew of separate station designs.

Finance Committee Chair Don Horner was pleased with the change in approach, saying the plan to design stations individually could have led to “beautiful, but impractical” stations.

“From a cost perspective, we’re now getting to a point where we’re standardizing the stations,” Horner said. He said 80 percent of the design will be standard across the whole system, leaving room for communities to give each station a “sense of place.”

Together, this morning’s two change orders add $4.6 million to the project’s cost. The additions are covered by the $800 million contingency and do not alter the overall $5.2 billion construction estimate.