TTC going back to Bombardier for streetcars

Despite past headaches, contracting another firm too costly, report says

The TTC is planning to buy at least a dozen more streetcars from Bombardier, despite the company’s struggles to meet the agency’s previous vehicle order.

In a report going to the TTC board on Thursday, agency staff recommend amending the $1billion contract the TTC signed with Bombardier in 2009 for 204 streetcars to purchase an additional 13 vehicles at a cost of $140 million. If more funding became available, the new order could rise to 60 cars, at a cost of $500 million. The cars would be delivered between 2023 and 2025.

The report also asks for authorization to purchase of 300 hybrid electric buses and 70 Wheel-Trans vehicles. Including the new streetcars, the vehicles would cost a total of about $550 million.

However, the TTC is projecting it will require $6.17 billion for new buses, streetcars, and subways and related systems over the next 10 years, and only about 36 per cent of that is funded. To meet its needs, the city is seeking contributions from the provincial and federal governments.

Although transit use has fallen dramatically during the pandemic, the TTC expects ridership to recover at some point in the coming years and says it will still need additional vehicles to replace its current fleet and meet increased demand.

At a press conference at city hall Friday, Mayor John Tory said delaying investment in transit infrastructure because of COVID-19 would be “a grave mistake.”

“I’m very optimistic about this city and its future,” he said. “The ridership will come back and new riders will come to the city, and we need to be able to provide for them when that happens.”

The mayor defended the recommendation to spend more money on streetcars from Bombardier, saying that although he had been “quite outspoken” in his criticism of the company “for the poor way in which they served us earlier on,” he had been reassured “by the hard work done by the TTC staff and working with Bombardier to answer the questions” about the new order.

He said the need to support Canadian jobs was also a factor. The cars supplied under the previous order were assembled at Bombardier’s plant in Thunder Bay, Ont.

“Any chance you can get to support Canadian companies, I think we should do that,” Tory said.

Bombardier is headquartered in Quebec, but last month announced it had finalized a deal to sell its rail division to Francebased Alstom for $5.3 billion.

After Bombardier faced criticism for its slow delivery of the initial order, the TTC sued the company and sought out other vendors. It identified four other possible suppliers: CRRC Qingdao-Sifang, CRRC Tangshan,

Hyundai Rotem and Siemens.

However, all the other companies would need to invest significant time and money to set up new manufacturing processes and design a car that could fit Toronto’s system, according to the report. It would take until 2025 for a new supplier to start mass-producing the vehicles, while Bombardier could start delivery by 2023.

Additionally, having to operate a mixed fleet consisting of 204 Bombardier cars and 60 vehicles from another manufacturer would force the TTC to incur between $40 and $60 million in incremental costs for expenditures like additional training and spare parts.

The report concluded that going back to Bombardier is the “only option that is likely to ensure delivery of additional streetcars on-time and that offers the lowest overall risk when considering technical scope requirements, schedule and budget.”

Although Bombardier fell badly behind schedule in the early years of the TTC’s previous order, the company staged a remarkable recovery and delivered the new fleet shortly after the contractual deadline of the end of 2019.

A senior executive conceded the company suffered “a very large loss” to fill the order. The litigation over delays was settled last year.

There have been other issues with the order besides delays. In 2018, the company said it would have to recall 67 of the streetcars to fix a welding defect.

The Star has also previously reported on reliability issues with the vehicles; early last year the maintenance backlog for the cars ballooned to the extent agency officials privately warned it was becoming unmanageable.

TTC CEO Rick Leary said Friday “the reliability of the vehicle has come a long way,” and if the board approves the purchase, Bombardier “will be held accountable right up until the end of delivery.”

In a statement, Bombardier spokesperson Sandra Buckler thanked the TTC for “placing confidence in us. Our made-inOntario streetcar is proving to be what we designed it to be — reliable, high performing and comfortable.”