Metrolinx’s patience with Bombardier gone
Transit agency officials rip into troubled rail company over delays and court case
Metrolinx executives have ripped into rail manufacturer Bombardier at a meeting of the transit agency’s board Friday, depicting the company as an organization in disarray and accusing it of spreading false information.
Reading from prepared remarks, board chair Rob Prichard criticized the company Friday for taking Metrolinx to court in a dispute over a $770-million light-rail vehicle order that has been bogged down by delays.
“Bombardier’s behaviour in going to court is not that of a trusted partner,” Prichard said. He slammed allegations the company made last week in a press release blaming Metrolinx for the delays, calling them “false.”
Over the course of the contract, Bombardier has cycled through at least two presidents, three vice-presidents and five project managers. Prichard said that had undermined the company’s ability to deliver vehicles on time.
“Bombardier needs to stabilize its business and the leadership of its business, focus on meeting its commitments and schedules, stop blaming others for its own shortcomings and to start delivering its overdue vehicles,” Prichard said.
Bombardier filed a notice of an application for an injunction against Metrolinx this month, claiming the agency was about to cancel the contract. Last fall, Metrolinx filed a no- tice of intention to end the deal.
The contract for 182 vehicles was signed in 2010, and the first batch of the cars is supposed to run on the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRT lines, set to open in 2021. The Metrolinx order is separate from the TTC’s purchase from Bombardier of 204 streetcars, which has also faced delays.
Metrolinx says Bombardier has not yet completed the first prototype ve- hicle for the order, which the company was supposed to deliver almost two years ago. Prichard said Bombardier has changed the delivery date 30 separate times.
The company is adamant that the pilot vehicle is ready, however, and claims that Metrolinx is refusing to take delivery of it.
“Bombardier categorically dismisses the allegations made by Metrolinx today,” the company said in a statement issued Friday through public relations firm Navigator.
“Last October, we invited Metrolinx to inspect the pilot (light rail vehicle). They have yet to come,” the statement said. “Today, we once again invite Metrolinx executives to visit our world-class facility in Kingston to see for themselves the vehicle lights are on and the vehicle is in top working condition, ready to go.”
The dispute over an issue as fundamental as whether the pilot vehicle is ready indicates the deep rift between Metrolinx and Bombardier. Bombardier has partnered with GO Transit, now a division of Metrolinx, on rail projects for decades.
Metrolinx doesn’t consider the pilot functional because it can’t yet be powered by an overhead catenary system and have all its internal systems working together.
Bombardier argues that those functions can be added over time and that the car is ready for testing now.