TTC board votes to sue Bombardier over delayed streetcars

CTV Toronto: TTC takes legal action The TTC has taken the next step in legal action against Bombardier, as promised streetcars remain undelivered. Natalie Johnson reports.

The Toronto Transit Commission has decided to sue Bombardier after the transportation developer repeatedly failed to deliver new streetcars on time.

TTC board members voted unanimously in favour of legal action on Wednesday, directing staff to launch the $50-million lawsuit.

“We have received schedule after schedule. We’ve been given assurance after assurance,” TTC CEO Andy Byford said.

There are only 10 new streetcars currently on the tracks in Toronto, out of the 67 Bombardier originally promised to deliver by the end of the 2015.

Bombardier is supposed to build a total of 204 new streetcars for the TTC, according to a $1-billion contract signed in 2009.

“At the end of the day, the 10 streetcars that we’ve got in service are fabulous,” Byford said. “The issue is that we just want more of them.”

Top transit officials visited Bombardier’s facility in Thunder Bay, Ont. this summer and negotiated a revised deal that would see only 20 streetcars delivered by the end of the year.

But Bombardier reported earlier this month that it would not be able to meet the deadline due to problems involving the crimping of electrical connectors on the streetcars.

“When people deliver late on a product like this, it has a massive impact on tens of thousands of people in Toronto and our economy,” said Toronto Mayor John Tory. “We can’t just stand by and let that happen.”

TTC board chair Josh Colle estimates that the delays have cost the transit commission more than $50 million.

“There are actually quite tangible costs -- in the millions -- of us maintaining and keeping an older fleet in operation that we otherwise wouldn’t have if the streetcars had been delivered,” Colle said.

The board also voted to consult with alternative suppliers for the delivery of the remaining streetcars, saying that if Bombardier can’t live up to the contract, Toronto will look elsewhere to get its streetcar plan back on track.

The idea of banning Bombardier from future TTC contracts was also brought up in Wednesday’s meeting, but the board decided against that, saying it would not help speed up the delivery of the streetcars.

With a report from CTV Toronto’s Natalie Johnson