WATERLOO REGION - Regional officials are in talks with construction consortium GrandLinq about how delayed Bombardier vehicles will impact the planned project launch in early 2018.

Light rail from Waterloo to Kitchener was originally scheduled to launch in late 2017.

Thomas Schmidt, the region's commissioner of transportation and environmental services, said there are several issues to be sorted out.

"This is a change in vehicle delivery so we're having discussions with GrandLinq . part of it is from the construction perspective, how does this or does this impact construction," he said Wednesday.

Avril Fisken, GrandLinq spokesperson, said the delay won't interfere with construction.

"The delivery time of the vehicles does not impact the construction schedule," she said.

The second question is how the process will work once vehicles start to arrive.

Bombardier needs to work on each vehicle, then GrandLinq has to work on each vehicle and then each vehicle will be tested on the line, Schmidt said. That means co-ordinating everything with operations.

"With Keolis as the operator, if operations are delayed, how do we do that in the best possible way," Schmidt said.

Despite delays, Coun. Tom Galloway said there are no plans to drop Bombardier as the provider of vehicles for the light rail project here.

"We're not looking at other options," he said. "We're pretty much committed."

The region is exploring options to get the system running if the light rail vehicles are further delayed, including starting up with fewer trains than planned.

Bombardier has been taking heat for production problems related to light rail vehicles and quality problems for Toronto streetcars.

The region chose in 2013 to piggyback on a Metrolinx contract for more than 170 vehicles from Bombardier.

But frustration with Bombardier seems to have hit a high.

According to media reports this week, Metrolinx is allowing bidders for construction of the Finch Avenue West light rail project in Toronto the option of including vehicles in their bids.

That could impact the existing Bombardier contract in Toronto, according to the reports.

In a media release, Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris criticized the move.

"Perhaps if the government had ensured and enforced an effective penalty structure, perhaps if they didn't ignore red flags that repeatedly warned of delays, we wouldn't be in this situation," he said.

Galloway said it's business as usual for the region, though he has concerns Bombardier will deliver the first light rail vehicle by Dec. 21. The original deadline was August.

"Confidence and Bombardier are not words you can use in the same sentence," Galloway said. "I'm hopeful."

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The final train isn't scheduled to be delivered until October 2017, about four months behind schedule.

The financial implications of the delays are not yet certain, but there is expected to be some additional cost. The region will pursue options to recover costs associated with the delay from Bombardier.

In the contract, the provision for late trains is $1,500 per day, per train, up to a maximum of $3.3 million. The region can also seek further damages.