After a protracted dispute with Bombardier about delays to its light rail vehicle order for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Metrolinx has taken the drastic step of placing an order for cars with another company.

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced Friday that Metrolinx, which is the provincial agency in charge of transit planning for the GTHA, has inked a deal to buy 61 vehicles from the French firm Alstom at a cost of $528 million.

The transit agency hasn’t cancelled its $770-million purchase from Bombardier, which as a result of a lawsuit brought by the manufacturer is now tied up in a dispute resolution process. But Del Duca said allowing both purchases to go ahead simultaneously would provide Metrolinx with a backup fleet that guarantees it will have enough vehicles to open the Crosstown line by 2021.

Del Duca called it “a creative and prudent approach to dealing with a less than ideal situation.”

Bombardier maintains that Metrolinx had no need to seek another supplier, and says it will be able to supply all 182 cars the agency ordered in 2010, 76 of which would run on the Crosstown line.

In a statement released Friday the Montreal-based company said it had addressed its previous manufacturing problems and was “ready, able and willing to deliver these vehicles to the people of Toronto on time.”

The vehicles being purchased from Alstom are its Citadis Spirit range, the same model the company is building for Ottawa’s Confederation Line. Seventeen of the vehicles will be used on the planned Finch West LRT in Toronto, while 44 will be deployed on the Crosstown if it’s determined Bombardier can’t deliver.

If Bombardier does supply the cars for Crosstown, Metrolinx will use the 44 vehicles on the Hurontario LRT in Mississauga.

Should the Alstom cars end up on the Crosstown line, it could lead to significant changes to the $5.3-billion LRT project. The Alstom vehicles are 50 per cent longer than Bombardier’s, which could necessitate modifications to the Crosstown infrastructure, including a storage yard that is already partially built.

Metrolinx is also buying fewer of the larger cars, which could mean changes to how frequently they operate.