City of Toronto/TTC moves closer to suing Bombardier

[dowlingm]

Bombardier is in the process of, at a much more gradual pace than needed/expected, delivering 204 Flexity 30m streetcars to replace the CLRV and ALRV fleets. Several revised delivery schedules have been issued and broken, with the finger mostly pointed (somewhat conveniently) at the parts plant in Mexico which supplies the assembly plant in Thunder Bay, Ontario. With the CLRV and ALRV ageing and an accessibility deadline of 2024 looming, patience is ebbing at the TTC and with its political masters. The streetcars supplied so far have had a very good in-service rate, just not enough of them.

Options to this order were taken by Metrolinx for the Waterloo ION and Toronto Eglinton Crosstown projects (and others), and there is a strong likelihood of slippage there too. The Metrolinx order is for somewhat "off the shelf" bidirectional cars whereas the downtown cars have trolley poles, 600V input voltage, wider track gauge, ability to take sharp turns, single end-single side doors and are 2.54m wide.

The Thunder Bay plant is also currently manufacturing CEM cab cars for the GO Transit heavy rail network and subway cars for TTC.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/t ... -1.3275477" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Myrtone]

Does it seem likely that this would not have been a problem if Toronto had chosen Siemens?

[dowlingm]

I honestly don’t think it could have been anticipated in Toronto, in the midst of reasonably successful commuter rail and subway orders, how Bombardier management would torch their customer over and over again to the point where paying the premium Siemens wanted would have been accepted. And now Metrolinx are paying Alstom over the odds to rush out uptown cars for the Finch West line, and the TTC are stuck between the need to order additional downtown cars and the politics of green lighting Bombardier’s option.

Meanwhile Bombardier must surely have vacated any chance of selling to NY Transit with the appointment of Byford, who at TTC swallowed his pride and put his name to their increasingly laughable promises.