LRT vehicle assembly, King Street underpass both behind schedule

Traffic stops on King Street in uptown Waterloo during construction on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. (Matt Harris / CTV Kitchener)

With less than two years to go until light rail vehicles are supposed to start moving through Kitchener and Waterloo, two key parts of the project are behind schedule.

Coun. Tom Galloway estimated Friday that construction on the King Street underpass is running six months behind.

In Kitchener, King has been closed to all forms of traffic between Victoria Street and Moore Avenue for more than four months.

Work is underway to lower the road, separating it from train tracks which will run above the new street.

Galloway said approvals for work relating to the underpass were delayed, in part because of the number of railways and railway authorities being dealt with.

“There were other projects that some of the railways were undertaking at the same time that interfered,” he said.

Crews are now looking at doing some construction work during the winter months to get the project back on schedule.

Another hurdle is being encountered 1,400 km away in Thunder Bay, where work has begun on components of the light rail vehicles that will run along the 19-kilometre Ion tracks.

“There’s a slight delay at this point in time,” Galloway said, adding that the delay could best be measured in “months.”

The reason for the delay, Galloway said, is the strike Bombardier workers were on last year – which bumped back work on the region’s vehicles, as well as a number of other orders.

Galloway said that the delay is “well within (the region’s) limits” based on contingencies built into contracts.

“They’re saying all the correct things in terms of assuring us they’ll be in time,” he said.

When it comes to the vehicles, “in time” doesn’t mean the September 2017 date long trumpeted as the month the Ion system will launch.

The region and GrandLinq, which will operate the system, have been expected the first vehicles to be delivered sometime near the end of 2016.

Several months will be needed for the 14 vehicles to undergo testing and modifications before they are put in service.

If the vehicles aren’t ready in time for the region’s needs, Galloway said, Bombardier could be on the hook for penalties estimated in the millions of dollars.

That’s similar to what’s happening in Toronto, where the Toronto Transit Commission is pursuing legal action against Bombardier over a fleet of undelivered streetcars.

TTC officials claim they have lost $50 million to the delays, which have seen only 10 of 67 streetcars completed to date.

Galloway called the situation in Toronto “significantly different” than that with the Ion vehicles, because the vehicles in question and the timelines of the two projects are both significantly different.

“Overall, we’re still quite optimistic,” he said.

“If it goes into 2018, so be it, but at this point in time we are still fairly confident we can keep the project on schedule.”