THUNDER BAY — The Alstom plant in Thunder Bay isn't the only Northern Ontario facility to benefit from the refurbishing of bi-level GO Transit cars for Metrolinx.
The province announced Monday it is spending $350 million for Crown-owned Ontario Northland to modernize 121 coaches at its shop in North Bay.
Earlier this month, the government announced a $500 million contract for Alstom to refurbish 181 units at its Thunder Bay facility.
Justin Roberts, the president of Unifor local 1075, said all the nearly 1,000 bi-level cars used for GO Transit were manufactured here.
"I'm not happy when the work goes [to North Bay] instead of us, but at the same time, I guess the facility there needs to stay open as well. I'm sure that's why the government is spreading the work out."
Roberts was somewhat surprised with the size of the job awarded to Ontario Northland, saying its facility is relatively small, and he's not aware of it taking on "as large a scale of contracts as we are."
He said he hopes Alstom gets the job of refurbishing hundreds more of the bi-level units that will need to be updated in the future.
The company has said the contract announced for Thunder Bay on Jan. 15 will provide work for 250 employees until 2030.
Ontario Northland's contract calls for its North Bay remanufacturing and repair centre to equip the rail cars with new interior finishings including seating, flooring, walls, ceilings, new doors and HVAC control systems.
The work is identical to what will be done on the cars coming to Thunder Bay for upgrading.
The majority of the labour force at both sites is represented by Unifor.
Roberts said he hasn't heard if Alstom made a pitch to have all the cars refurbished in Thunder Bay, and the company did not respond to an inquiry about that from Newswatch.
But spokesperson Andrée-Lyne Hallé noted the Thunder Bay plant "can definitely handle loads and volumes significantly higher than what it has today."
She said Alstom is nonetheless proud of the contract to modernize 181 GO cars "which will support jobs and grow expertise in the facility for many years to come."
Hallé added that Alstom is pleased to see continuing government investments in manufacturing in Northern Ontario, saying the region is now building unique expertise in rolling stock modernization, establishing itself as a major hub for this type of rail product.
In an email, a spokesperson for Ontario Northland said the corporation has a long history of partnering with Metrolinx on refurbishment projects.
"Most recently, in 2022, Ontario Northland was pleased to extend a previous refurbishment contract to include 56 additional bi-level GO train coaches."
ON was also given a contract for refurbishing 15 bi-level cars in 2019.
Kate Bondett, senior communications manager for ON, said "Both Metrolinx and Ontario Northland are agencies of the Ontario government, with a shared commitment to continue to enhance the province's transportation network."
