WATERLOO REGION — Spring is officially here, and the Region of Waterloo is facing a tight, three-month deadline if it hopes to launch its long-awaited LRT service this season.

The service was originally supposed to start in July 2017. But the launch date has been pushed back repeatedly. In November, regional officials said passengers would be riding the LRT this spring.

"We are targeting that," said Thomas Schmidt, the region's commissioner of transportation. But he wouldn't provide a specific date for the launch.

The region had planned to specify an exact launch date at the March 27 regional council meeting, but that has been deferred, he said.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," Schmidt said. "The vehicles are not service-ready yet. There's a lot of work to be done on the integration of the system" — how the trains and the other LRT elements — signals, gates and so on — seamlessly interact.

"This is a large and complicated project," Schmidt said. "You're never 100 per cent sure on anything until it actually happens. There are still things that could delay us, but we think we can get there."

The trains are now being run on a schedule to mimic real service, with trains stopping at each station, opening and shutting doors as if riders were getting on and off, he said.

The region won't launch service until it is confident that it can run as planned. "The worse thing would be starting, and having problems," he said.

But every day that service isn't running is costing the region. The bill from delays is $24.6 million and counting.

The region blames delays on late delivery of the LRT trains.

Under the contract with manufacturer Bombardier, the first train was to arrive in Waterloo Region no later than August 2016, and the last one was to be in the region by December of that year.

But after repeated delays, the first train arrived in February 2017; the last train arrived in December 2018.

The current target for a spring start is almost two full years after the original start date.

The region said in December 2017 that delivery delays have so far cost it $24.6 million. Costs continue to mount, but Schmidt wouldn't provide an up-to-date figure, saying regional council will get a report on costs soon.

The Record requested details of what penalties Bombardier could be charged and how they would be calculated and paid out, filing a request under provincial Freedom of Information legislation. But that request has been denied.

The costs associated with the delays are similar to the costs you would face if you bought a new house and it is built on time, but you aren't yet ready to move in, Schmidt said.

"Even if you're not ready to move in, the builder's got to be paid. You still have to take possession. You still have to start making payments on your mortgage. You still have to pay, maybe reduced heat and hydro because you're not living in the house, but you still have to pay some heat and hydro," Schmidt said.

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The original contract required construction consortium GrandLinq to have the light rail system ready to run by July 1, 2017. After that date, the region had to start making payments to GrandLinq for operations and maintenance.

The system is built, but the service isn't ready to run. But GrandLinq is still doing work in the meantime and needs to be paid, Schmidt said.

The system needs to be tested and its complex multiple components need to be maintained.

"There's ongoing work that needs to be done" by managers who, in some cases, were hired months or years ago, and by maintenance staff, Schmidt said. "It's only fair and reasonable that GrandLinq needs to be paid for that additional work. ... Those are costs that were not part of the original contract."

The delays in the launch also mean the region has had to pay consultants for longer than was originally planned.

Schmidt stresses that workers such as drivers and train maintenance workers weren't hired months or years in advance only to have nothing to do. Drivers were hired in November, Schmidt said. "It's not like drivers were hired immediately and they were sitting around. The intent is to hire them as you need them."

Lost fare revenue isn't a major cost stemming from the delays, Schmidt said. The lack of fare revenue is offset by the fact the region isn't yet paying the full costs of running a transit service.

The region says it is doing what it can to contain the costs of the delays and recover them from Bombardier.

The contract with Bombardier includes a provision to charge Bombardier "liquidated damages" of $1,500 per vehicle per day, up to a maximum of about $4 million for late delivery. The region could recoup those costs by withholding the final payment for the trains. Any costs beyond that amount would have to be recovered in a lawsuit.

The extra costs don't mean taxpayers will be facing an unexpected tax increase, Schmidt said.

To pay for Ion light rail, as well as express buses to Cambridge and other transit improvements, the region approved nine years of tax increases in the cities. The tax increase was 1.5 per cent every year from 2012 to 2017. The increases were 1.25 per cent in 2014 and 2018, and 0.4 per cent in 2019 and 2020.

cthompson@therecord.com

Twitter: @ThompsonRecord

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