City hands Thales ‘notice of default’
Company has one chance to fix issues, ‘then termination would follow’: Iveson
Edmonton gave Thales Canada a formal “notice of default” Tuesday as the first step toward terminating the contract and using older signalling technology to run the Metro Line LRT.
Under the terms of the $55-million contract, Thales must respond within five business days with a new proposal to get the line running properly. If that’s not acceptable to the city, lawyers will handle the next steps.
“We’ll have resolution on this within the year, with Thales or without,” said Adam Laughlin, Edmonton’s head of infrastructure, saying his engineers are working on alternate solutions.
He said passengers on the Metro Line will not see service disruptions because of this.
Trains are now running at full speed on the Metro Line, which runs between downtown and NAIT, but the new signalling technology has reliability issues and is still not being used where train lines need to overlap in the tunnel, said Laughlin.
That means passengers in northeast Edmonton are still suffering reduced frequency. Rather than having Metro Line trains weave between the trains running every five minutes on the original Capital Line, city engineers have to reroute one in three northbound trains from Clareview to NAIT.
Thales was supposed to have the system ready for spring 2014, he said.
“From the city’s perspective, we have bent over backwards trying to accommodate Thales.”
Issuing a notice of default is a serious consequence, said Mayor Don Iveson. It gives Thales one more chance to fix the problem.
“If they don’t, then termination would follow,” he said. “We would look to have the alternate (signal system) in place before any proprietary technology is removed.”
Using the old fixed-block technology with red and green lights beside the track is one interim solution, he said. The city might switch to the new system planned
From the city’s perspective, we have bent over backwards trying to accommodate Thales.
for the Valley Line LRT between downtown and Mill Woods. That system runs on train signals connected to the traffic light system, which gives priority to trains without pre-empting the system.
City officials are due before council with an update on those signal options this summer.
But council had to act, said Iveson. Thales repeatedly let the city down and is not living up to the contract.
“This is our line in the sand.” The city has also been withholding $22 million of the $55 million in payment due Thales.
Cara Salci, spokeswoman for Thales Canada, issued a response by email Tuesday, saying the company was “disappointed.”
“The activities of Thales and the city are mutually dependent, demanding timely co-ordination and decision-making,” she said. “We remain committed to delivering the next steps of this project for the benefit of Edmontonians and will continue to work, as we always have, per our contractual obligations.”
The Metro Line serves 19,000 people a day. Despite the reliability issues of the signal system, city officials say the line is safe to use.