The TTC says it remains confident that Bombardier will stick to its latest streetcar delivery schedule, despite allegations this week of ongoing dysfunction at the Quebec-based rail manufacturer’s plants.

Court documents filed Thursday by Metrolinx, the provincially owned transit agency, accuse Bombardier of a “persistent inability to deliver on its contractual obligations” under a 2010 deal for 182 light rail vehicles (LRVs) and claim that as recently as last month there were “chronic and ongoing” problems with the company’s manufacturing processes.

The $770-million order from Metrolinx is separate from the TTC’s 2009 purchase from Bombardier of 204 low-floor streetcars, which has also been plagued by delays. But the vehicles from the two orders are similar and Bombardier is assembling the TTC cars at the same plants that have worked on the Metrolinx project.

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Metrolinx filed the affidavits in response to Bombardier’s attempt to secure an injunction to prevent the agency from cancelling the contract. The documents have not been tested in court.

Bombardier denies it has bungled the Metrolinx order and in a statement released Thursday said: “we categorically disagree” with Metrolinx’s allegations. The company stated it was “fully able to deliver” the vehicles, which Metrolinx purchased to run on the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRT lines.

In an email Friday TTC spokesperson Brad Ross declined to comment on the legal dispute between Metrolinx and Bombardier. But he said that since Bombardier committed to a “reset” on the TTC streetcar order last summer “cars have been delivered as promised.”

“We continue to work through issues, but none have caused our confidence to wane,” he said. “The dispute between (Metrolinx and Bombardier) has nothing to do with us or our specific vehicle — we are happy with the streetcars.”

Ross added that the TTC is “cautiously optimistic” that the company will deliver all 204 of the new cars by the end of 2019 as originally promised.

TTC chair Josh Colle said that Metrolinx and Bombardier are “warring” is “not good news.” But Colle, who is also the councillor for Ward 15 Eglinton-Lawrence, said he has been reassured by Bombardier’s decision to separate the production lines for the two orders and transfer assembly of the Metrolinx vehicles to a dedicated facility in Kingston.

“I’m more confident now,” he said, adding that how the company performs the remainder of this year will determine the success of the contract.

The affidavits filed by Metrolinx claim that that as recently as last month there were “serious problems” at Bombardier’s plants in Sahagun, Mexico and Thunder Bay, Ont., which are building both the TTC streetcars and the first Metrolinx vehicles.

The documents claim that Metrolinx vehicle parts certified in Mexico, where car underframes and other components are constructed, were later found to be the wrong size when they arrived in Thunder Bay, where the cars are assembled.

In a Feb. 2 email submitted with the affidavits, a Metrolinx official said he doubted the problem had been resolved because agency representatives “have continued to find concerns with measurement methods when on-site in Mexico as recently as the last (two to three) weeks.”

The documents also assert that during a Nov. 2016 meeting between Metrolinx and Bombardier, a company official admitted that Bombardier had “not yet overcome certain problems plaguing” the TTC project.

The TTC has previously blamed problems at Sahagun and Thunder Bay for delays to its $1-billion streetcar order. Under the original terms of the TTC deal, the transit agency was to have than 100 cars in service by now. After falling behind schedule, Bombardier has been forced to amend the delivery schedule at multiple times and only delivered the 30th streetcar in December.

It has committed to delivering 40 more this year, and to ramp up production to meet the 2019 deadline.

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In an emailed statement Friday, Bombardier spokesperson Simon Letendre said that “output from Mexico has improved significantly over the past (six to eight) months” and that “we are and will continue to deliver a high-quality product that will meet and exceed reliability requirements.”

Letendre said the “contractual issues with Metrolinx are a completely separate matter” and wouldn’t affect the TTC order. “We are on track to meet our commitments,” he said.

While TTC leaders have said they believe the company can meet the 2019 end-date, a December report from the transit agency warned that Bombardier was at risk for missing the target.

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