TTC issues with Bombardier streetcars also apply to Metrolinx order

Metrolinx says that its LRV test models are about a year behind schedule due to production problems with Bombardier.

Thestar.com
May 13, 2015
By Tess Kalinowski

The TTC isn’t the only Toronto area transit provider affected by Bombardier’s light rail vehicle manufacturing problems.

Provincial agency Metrolinx has confirmed that the first vehicles in its $770-million order are about a year behind on delivery. Originally expected late last year so Metrolinx could begin testing, they likely won’t arrive until this fall.

“Metrolinx is experiencing similar problems with the quality of light rail car frames assembled in Bombardier’s plant in Mexico,” the agency said on Wednesday.

Its order for 182 LRVs comes with an option to purchase an additional 118 vehicles. The vehicles are slightly different from the TTC’s in that they have a cab on both ends and have doors on both sides. They are expected to furnish the Eglinton-Crosstown, the Finch Ave. West, Sheppard Ave East, Waterloo and the Mississauga-Brampton light rail lines.

The problem with the Metrolinx cars is the same as that described this week by frustrated TTC CEO Andy Byford, who said he wants riders to understand why he can’t put more of the air-conditioned, fully accessible streetcars into service.

The first of the 204 new streetcars - price tag: $1.2 billion - were so flawed that the TTC simply couldn’t risk putting them into service because they would almost certainly break down on Toronto streets, he said.

Parts produced in Mexico were so poorly made that they couldn’t be properly assembled in Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant, where attempts to rivet badly cut walls and under-frames were rejected by the TTC.

Byford also cited defective laminate, loose screws and faulty electrical connectors among the issues on the new TTC vehicles.

Metrolinx says the initial delay isn’t expected to impact the overall Crosstown schedule, since the LRT isn’t scheduled to open until 2020.

“We haven’t received any light rail vehicles as yet from Bombardier, and we will not accept sub-standard vehicles nor the burden of additional costs,” said Metrolinx.

“Our vehicles team is currently working closely with Bombardier senior management who have taken a number of corrective actions in Mexico,” it said.

Waterloo, which is building its own light rail line, is aware of the issues and is monitoring the situation. But it isn’t expecting to take delivery of any vehicles until next year in advance of a late 2017 opening, said Darshpreet Bhatti, director of rapid transit.

Bombardier spokesman Marc-Andre Lefebvre said the streetcar quality issues aren’t specific to the company’s Mexican supplier or any other North American plant.

“Yes we have in this case had issues in Thunder Bay, we have had issues in Mexico. But right now the main point for us is that we have been open about these, and now we can clearly say they are items that are in the past. We were working on correcting them. Now they are corrected,” he said, adding that the company is committed to the new delivery schedule that specifies the TTC will have 30 vehicles by the end of this year.

The lessons from the production problems on the TTC vehicles will, said Lefebvre, translate into a smoother experience for Metrolinx.

Mayor John Tory said he expects the TTC CEO and its board chair Josh Colle will register “our pleasure in doing business with a Canadian company but our determination to say they must do better,” when they visit Thunder Bay in June.

“When you take the step of supporting a Canadian company ... they’ve got to meet the test when it comes to both delivering a quality product and, delivering it on time and on budget,” he said.

How Bombardier got the streetcar order

The TTC's $1.2-billion contract for 204 fully accessible, air-conditioned streetcars was awarded to Bombardier in June 2009.

The TTC board debated whether or not it should exceed the requirement of 25 per cent Canadian parts and labour for provincially funded transit projects. But a consultant suggested that 25 per cent was as much Canadian content as the TTC could mandate without effectively eliminating every company but Bombardier from the bidding.

In the end only two manufacturers bid on the contract - Bombardier and Siemens. The latter company's losing bid was $500 million higher.

The city ended up footing the bill for two-thirds of the cost of the new cars after Ottawa refused to contribute the usual one-third federal funding. The Ontario Liberal government came up with the remaining third.

In 2009, the Toronto Star reported that the first of the new streetcars would arrive in 2012 with the entire order expected by 2018. In reality, the first of new cars went into service on Spadina last year, and the TTC is pushing to have the entire order delivered by a 2019 deadline.

There are supposed to be 30 cars in Toronto running on Spadina, Harbourfront and Bathurst St. by the end of this year.