The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is at risk of opening at least seven months late and going over budget by more than $330 million, according to internal Metrolinx documents.

The documents, which have not been made public but were obtained by the Star, show the consortium building the LRT told Metrolinx last month it expected the line won’t be complete until May 6, 2022, months after the provincial government’s September 2021 deadline.

They also show Metrolinx, which is the provincial transit agency for the GTHA, projected the LRT’s total cost to be $12.58 billion. That’s about $332 million more than the current approved budget of $12.24 billion.

While the cost estimate is Metrolinx’s, the delay projection is attributed to Crosslinx Transit Solutions, the consortium tapped by the provincial government to build the LRT.

In a statement sent to the Star, Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said the agency doesn’t accept Crosslinx’s position that the Crosstown will open late.

“We are still working towards a September 2021 opening,” she said.

“The conclusions in the report are in no way final. They are articulating the challenges to meeting timelines — a normal part of large construction projects. This is a snapshot of the overall project that can vary from month-to-month. We believe any challenge can be minimized and managed,” she said.

The Crosslinx consortium is led by ACS-Dragados, Aecon Group, EllisDon and SNC-Lavalin. A spokesperson for the group declined to speak about potential delays to the LRT, referring questions to Metrolinx.

News of the potential delay and cost overruns comes despite Metrolinx reaching a costly settlement with Crosslinx last year that was supposed to ensure the project stayed on schedule.

Under the terms of the August 2018 deal, Metrolinx agreed to pay the consortium $237 million and Crosslinx recommitted to the September 2021 target date.

Aikins said that settlement had been “effective” and was “for legitimate additional costs incurred on the project up to that point in time.” The schedule challenges in the documents obtained by the Star “are new and not involved in the original case,” she said.

She stressed that the $237-million settlement had been accounted for within Crosstown’s approved budget.

The Metrolinx documents, which are sections of reports the agency regularly produces to track the status of major transit projects, list several causes of potential delays to the Crosstown LRT.

Among them are the discovery of groundwater at the site of Avenue Station, and work related to a CP rail bridge at Mount Dennis.

They also reference unanticipated work required to remedy defects in “caissons,” or watertight retaining structures, at Eglinton station.

The problem is with existing caissons built decades ago as part of the TTC’s Eglinton subway station, where Crosslinx is also building one of the LRT stops. Metrolinx believes the underpinning needs to be replaced.

The documents say the time required to perform the caisson work is in addition to the issues that could push the opening date to May 2022.

Aikins said Metrolinx has hired an independent engineer to come up with a solution for how to do the job, and “will report by the end of January if there is any adjustment expected to timeline.”

The documents also show Metrolinx had concerns about what the agency described as the “poor performance” of Bombardier, the company supplying the vehicles for the Crosstown.

Metrolinx has ordered 76 Bombardier vehicles to operate on the LRT, at a published cost of $392 million. In February, Metrolinx said the company had missed the deadline to supply the first six cars, and had delivered only three.

The documents flagged the possibility Bombardier wouldn’t deliver the cars in time to perform important software development work to enable signalling and train control systems. They said late delivery could jeopardize the LRT opening date and potentially expose Metrolinx to “significant” financial claims from Crosslinx.

The documents say Metrolinx has plans to operate the LRT at “lower service levels with fewer vehicles should the required number not be delivered on time.”

Despite the comments in the documents, Aikins said in her statement that Metrolinx believes “Bombardier is back on schedule and this concern has been mitigated.”

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Kaven Delarosbil, a spokesperson for Bombardier, said the company is “committed to the success of the Eglinton Crosstown project, and we are on track to deliver these high quality, state-of-the-art vehicles.”

He said Bombardier has produced 25 of the cars so far.

According to the documents, Metrolinx attributes the estimated $332 million in cost overruns largely to higher-than-expected expenditures on professional services, property and vehicles, which have caused “significant budget pressures.”

Metrolinx describes the Eglinton Crosstown LRT as the largest transit project in the country. It will stretch 19 kilometres between Mount Dennis and Kennedy station, and have 25 stops.

Although Metrolinx commonly cites the cost of constructing the line at $5.3 billion, the total budget including long-term maintenance is more than $12 billion.

Crosslinx is building the LRT under a public-private partnership (P3) model, under which the government contracts private companies to build public infrastructure, and imposes financial penalties for any delays. The procurement model is designed to transfer the risks of cost overruns and schedule slip-ups to the private sector, and ensure projects get built on time and on budget.

While the model is supposed to ensure the private sector pays unexpected costs, that’s not always the case. Metrolinx paid Crosslinx the $237-million settlement after the consortium sued the agency and sought a time extension, claiming Metrolinx had caused delays to the work and forced Crosslinx to incur additional costs.

Metrolinx intends to use P3s to construct other major transit projects, including the proposed $28.5-billion expansion of the GTA’s network that includes the Ontario Line.

NDP MPP and transit critic Jessica Bell said the latest problems with the Crosstown are “an example of what can go wrong with private sector delivery of public transit.”

“Metrolinx gave this consortium a large premium and then an additional $237 million to take on the risk of cost overruns and delays. But the company’s not delivering on its promise, if these documents are correct, and it’s us, it’s the taxpayers (that have to pick up the bill),” said Bell (University-Rosedale).

“The NDP has been pretty clear that we stand for the public sector delivering transit projects because it is cheaper, and there is more accountability.”

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation, which oversees Metrolinx, didn’t respond to specific questions about the LRT. In a statement, ministry spokesperson Callum Elder said: “As with all large construction projects, the government expects Metrolinx to monitor the performance of key contractors and rigorously oversee the budget and schedule.

“Commuters in the Toronto region have waited too long for underground rapid transit, which is why our government is committed to doing things differently.”

The Crosstown project has been under construction since 2011, and has been delayed before. In 2015, the Ontario Liberal government of the day announced its 2020 opening date would be pushed back one year.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

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