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A Spanish consortium helping to construct a new subway to Vaughan tried to return the portion of its $420-million contract related to building a new station at Highway 407 after one of its subcontractors walked away, according to the Toronto Transit Commission.

Challenges faced by the Spanish company, Obrascon Huarte Lain and FCC Construction (OHL/FCC) — including the death of a construction worker two years ago at York University — are the main cause of delays that have pushed the planned opening of the subway extension back by about a year to the fall of 2016, the TTC said.

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In its contract with Toronto’s transit agency, OHF/FCC commits to build the northern tunnels, stretching from the university to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, as well as the Highway 407 subway station connected to a station for York Region Transit, GO Transit and Brampton Transit buses.

They wanted us to dissect our price

During the bidding, the Spanish firms spoke with Buttcon Ltd., a Toronto contractor doing other work for the TTC, said Peter DiGaetano, president of Buttcon. “They approached us to price the station portion of the job,” he said. “We gave them our price. Then after they won the contract, they told us we had to do it for a different price, which was lower. We said, ‘No thank you, see you later.’ Then they started awarding it themselves.”