Metrolinx executives ripped into rail manufacturer Bombardier at a meeting of the transit agency’s board Friday, depicting the company as an organization in disarray and accusing it of spreading false information.

Reading from prepared remarks, board chair Rob Prichard criticized the company for taking Metrolinx to court in a dispute over a $770-million light-rail vehicle order that has been bogged down by delays.

“Bombardier’s behaviour in going to court is not that of a trusted partner,” Prichard said. He slammed allegations the company made last week in a press release blaming Metrolinx for the delays, calling them “false.”

Over the course of the contract, Bombardier has cycled through at least two presidents, three vice-presidents and five project managers. Prichard said that had undermined the company’s ability to deliver vehicles on time.

“Bombardier needs to stabilize its business and the leadership of its business, focus on meeting its commitments and schedules, stop blaming others for its own shortcomings and to start delivering its overdue vehicles,” Prichard said.

Bombardier filed a notice of an application for an injunction against Metrolinx this month, claiming the agency was about to cancel the contract. Last fall Metrolinx filed a notice of intention to terminate the deal.

The contract for 182 vehicles was signed in 2010, and the first batch of the cars is supposed to run on the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRT lines, set to open in 2021. The Metrolinx order is separate from the TTC’s purchase from Bombardier of 204 streetcars, which has also faced delays.

Metrolinx says that Bombardier has not yet completed the first prototype vehicle for the order, which the company was supposed to deliver almost two years ago. Prichard alleged that Bombardier has changed the delivery date of the prototype 30 separate times.

The company is adamant that the pilot vehicle is ready, however, and claims that Metrolinx is refusing to take delivery of it.

“Bombardier categorically dismisses the allegations made by Metrolinx today,” the company said in a statement issued Friday afternoon through public relations firm Navigator.

“Last October, we invited Metrolinx to inspect the pilot (light rail vehicle). They have yet to come,” the statement said. “Today, we once again invite Metrolinx executives to visit our world-class facility in Kingston to see for themselves the vehicle lights are on and the vehicle is in top working condition, ready to go.”

The dispute over an issue as fundamental as whether the pilot vehicle is ready indicates the deep rift between Metrolinx and Bombardier. Bombardier has partnered with GO Transit, now a division of Metrolinx, on rail projects for decades.

Metrolinx doesn’t consider the pilot functional because it can’t yet be powered by an overhead catenary system and have all its internal systems turned on and working together.

Bombardier argues that those functions can be added over time and that the car is ready for testing now.

There are also issues with the fleet of vehicles that Bombardier is building for Waterloo’s ION LRT line. The first vehicle of the $92.4-million, 14-car order was en route to Waterloo from Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant on Friday, but Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig alleged that it is “not yet in a state of completion.”

Thomas Schmidt, commissioner of transportation for Waterloo region, confirmed that the vehicle is not fully operational. He said that the region had not yet formally accepted the vehicle and would have to conduct more tests before it would do so.

The Metrolinx pilot was also supposed to be the test vehicle for the Waterloo line, but because of delays to the pilot, in order to open the LRT on time Waterloo has been compelled to skip the prototype phase and test production vehicles instead.

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Schmidt said the situation wasn’t ideal, but it’s not unusual to have to modify vehicles after they’re delivered.

“Our plan would have been to have a vehicle that can run — that would have been ideal,” Schmidt said. He added that Bombardier has fully committed to making any changes that are required.

The first vehicle for ION was supposed to arrive six months ago. The delay has pushed back the opening of the 19-kilometre LRT line from late 2017 to some time early next year.

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