Another blown promise

Now here’s a surprise: Bombardier has missed yet another deadline to deliver transit vehicles to Toronto. In fact, of course, it’s no surprise at all. Is there a deadline this company hasn’t missed?

This time it involves vehicles for the Crosstown LRT along Eglinton Ave. Bombardier was supposed to deliver the first half-dozen light rail cars by last Friday. But according to Metrolinx, which is building the $5.4-billion line, it delivered only three.

So what? Bombardier now promises to come up with the other three in the next couple of weeks. Ordinarily, we might just shrug and move on. But this is the same company that keeps pledging, hand on heart, to meet its deadlines — and then promptly breaks every one. Each time, it vows to do better. Trust us this time, it says. We’ve ironed out the problems. Then, inevitably, it comes up short.

Metrolinx is quite right to blow the whistle on Bombardier. Delays in delivery will cost money and the agency is invoking financial penalties in its contract with Bombardier to protect the interests of taxpayers.

Torontonians hardly need to be reminded of Bombardier’s chronic failure to deliver. It fell far short of promised delivery deadlines for new-model streetcars for the TTC. And then last summer it was discovered that most of the new cars needed lengthy repairs that took them out of commission for19 weeks each. They won’t all be fixed until 2022. That means delays for transit riders and extra cost for the TTC.

That’s bad enough. But it’s no random glitch. Bombardier, a highly coddled “national champion” in rail transit and aerospace, is ruining its reputation with all these botched deadlines.

Consider: in mid-December, VIA Rail gave a billion-dollar contract for new trains to the Canadian subsidiary of the Germany manufacturing giant Siemens. VIA cited “on-time delivery” as its top consideration in choosing Siemens over Bombardier. Then Swiss Federal Railways said it won’t take any new trains from Bombardier until it repairs the ones already in service. And last week the New York City Transit Authority halted new train deliveries from Bombardier until existing cars are fixed.

Andy Byford, head of the New York authority, issued a scorching statement about Bombardier’s performance. And he should know: he got badly stung by Bombardier’s delivery problems when he headed up the TTC.

All this is more proof, if any was needed, that Toronto should avoid getting in any deeper with Bombardier at all costs. We need a reliable partner in expanding transit, and Bombardier has shown repeatedly that it doesn’t deserve our trust.