TTC Chair Josh Colle tried a new tactic in the city’s epic streetcar battle with Bombardier on Wednesday, linking stunning delays on the 204-car order to the prospect of a federal bailout for Bombardier’s struggling aerospace arm. Federal money would be a “slap in the face” for Toronto, Colle suggested, absent concrete and compelling guarantees.
“I would certainly hope, if any of our federal cousins are listening, that a prerequisite of any discussion about helping out Bombardier would be that they have to straighten out the Toronto order,” said Colle.
Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant should have delivered 67 cars by the end of last year. There are 17 on the road today, and the company recently downgraded a more recent promise to deliver 54 vehicles in 2016 to just 30.
Incoming Bombardier Transportation Americas president Benoit Brossoit has pledged to provide the TTC with what CEO Andy Byford calls “additional measures that can be taken to improve” upon that figure. That might include moving error-plagued parts production from Mexico to Quebec, or adding a permanent third shift in Thunder Bay. In the meantime, neither Byford nor Colle professes any confidence in the company.
Bombardier spokesman Marc-André Lefebvre dismissed Colle’s idea out of hand. “Unequivocally, these are two separate issues,” he said in a statement to the National Post. “Bombardier Transportation is taking bold and decisive action to ensure deliveries of streetcars to the Toronto Transit Commission and its riders.” He boasted of the company’s “vast network of manufacturing resources.”
A spokesperson for Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, would not comment on the streetcar order. And Colle conceded there mightn’t be too many votes to be lost federally in not going to bat for Toronto.
For Queen’s Park, however, this could be some headache. Metrolinx is counting on Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant to deliver similar light rail vehicles for several projects, including the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, which is scheduled to open in 2021. The prototype vehicle is more than than a year overdue, and as with the TTC’s streetcars, there is no firm timetable for its delivery.
“Production … cannot begin until the pilot phase is completed — that takes several years — so we need our pilot vehicle now,” Metrolinx spokesperson Anne-Marie Aikins said in an email. “With each passing day that we do not receive the pilot vehicle, our concerns increase.”
• Email: cselley@nationalpost.com | Twitter: cselley
