It appears Bombardier won’t be able to meet their latest revised delivery schedule to send completed streetcars to Toronto, just one month after it was proposed.
In his monthly report to the board, Toronto Transit Commission chief executive officer Andy Byford expressed significant doubt Bombardier will be able to send four completed vehicles per month from its Thunder Bay plant.
“In early March, we were advised by Bombardier that a new CEO has been appointed and I have spoken with him to outline our complete frustration and dissatisfaction with Bombardier’s current performance,” Byford wrote in the report.
“At the time of writing, I am unable to confirm a delivery schedule, but it is evident that Bombardier will not hit the four vehicles per month that we were promised as recently as last month.”
As of this month, the TTC has 17 of the new streetcars in service. The latest revised schedule would have resulted in 54 vehicles in operation by the end of the year.
At the time of purchase, the company and the TTC entered into a $1.2 billion contract for the 204 vehicles, which were to have all been completed by 2019.
A previous schedule called for 73 of the cars to have been delivered by the end of 2015.
Late last year the TTC board voted to file a $51 million claim, five per cent of the total contract cost, against Bombardier over the continued delays. The board also considered barring the company from future contracts but ruled against it at the time.
MPP Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan) said the plant is the largest private-sector employer in Thunder Bay with about 1,400 workers.
He recognizes anything that could impact the company’s ability to secure future work from the nation’s biggest city could lead to loss of jobs.
“Anything that could negatively impact that relationship between the city of Toronto and Bombardier and future work that could come to this plant of course would be a concern to me as it would be to everybody in the city of Thunder Bay,” he said.
Last month a local union official said he was optimistic the plant would be able to meet the delivery schedule.
A Bombardier spokesperson declined to provide comment to Thunder Bay media, instead saying the company plans to meet with the TTC in the coming days.
