Bombardier is taking Metrolinx to court

TORONTO — Bombardier is taking Metrolinx to court over the transit agency’s “threat” to cancel a $770-million contract for light rail vehicles.

According to a statement from Bombardier, the Quebec-based company filed an injunction against Metrolinx with the Ontario Superior Court on Friday.

The statement cited Metrolinx’s “unjustified threats to terminate our contract.”

“Bombardier has taken this action to protect our employees, protect our legal rights and to allow for the on-time delivery of light rail vehicles to the people of Toronto,” the statement said.

Metrolinx responded in a statement of its own, in which the provincially owned transit agency said it was “disappointed” that Bombardier had taken legal action.

“We have been frank in sharing our reservations about their ability to deliver vehicles on time and to a level of quality we expect,” the statement said.

“Bombardier’s focus should be on getting the all the vehicles delivered on schedule and with the quality expected, not on legal proceedings of this nature.”

Bombardier’s legal gambit comes three months after Metrolinx issued the company a notice of intention to cancel its contract for up to 182 light rail vehicles.

The two parties reached a deal in 2010 for Metrolinx to purchase the cars, which were to run on the Eglinton Crosstown, Finch West, and other Toronto-area light rail lines.

But the order has been plagued by delays. Bombardier has not yet delivered a pilot vehicle originally scheduled to arrive in 2014, and Metrolinx has publicly expressed concerns about allowing any problems with the order to affect the opening of the Crosstown, which is scheduled for 2021.

In its statement, Bombardier blamed Metrolinx for the setbacks, asserting that the agency has changed the scope and technical specifications of the project “countless times.”

The company claimed that the pilot vehicle was finished but Metrolinx has refused to take delivery.

“The simple truth is (Bombardier is) fully capable of delivering its trains on time,” the statement said.

Bombardier has been unable to deliver vehicles for another project on schedule. The TTC has placed a $1-billion order with the company for 204 new streetcars, and the agency was supposed to have more than 100 of the vehicles on its property by now. Instead Bombardier only delivered the 31st this month.

The vehicles for the Ion project in Waterloo Region are part of the delayed order.

Earlier this week, the federal government agreed to give Bombardier a $372.5million interest-free loan.

The money is intended to support the company’s aerospace division, which has struggled with delays and cost overruns on its CSeries passenger jet program.