dowlingm
Senior Member
Metrolinx is less screwed than TTC. They can look to a bunch of different manufacturers building or soon to build in North America like Siemens, Alstom, Kinki Sharyo for standard-gauge, standard-width, 750V wide turn radius cars, at least to get ION done. TTC needs a sharp turn radius, 2.54m width car with a non standard gauge. It will also need mods like 600V power, a working wheelchair ramp (remember that went through a few iterations with Flexity) and so on which are more minor but drift further from an off the shelf model.
If TTC looks like it might jump to another supplier, or seeks remedies which make the contract a bigger cash flow sinkhole than it is already, Bombardier might kill all units not yet in production and take their chances in court as they did the signalling contract in London. That leaves TTC with little if any chance of having sufficient accessible capacity in place by end 2024. In theory it could buy some of whatever SEPTA does with slight dimensional mods, but there's no timeframe and CanCon would have to put aside.
The other issue would be the survival of Bombardier as it currently exists. The province might offer to buy the Thunder Bay plant but without the overseas supply chain continuing to function that only gets you so far.
Assuming the company survives, I expect a face saving deal with the province kicking in some cash to help get some more ALRVs refurbed and to cover the incremental costs of a quick S70 or Citadis buy for Metrolinx, depending on who has the delivery slots available. Bombardier would continue to build the Crosstown vehicles and with this city's record on infrastructure it's possible no one will end up noticing the cars are late anyway because the stations will, like their cousins on Spadina Extension, be years late.
If TTC looks like it might jump to another supplier, or seeks remedies which make the contract a bigger cash flow sinkhole than it is already, Bombardier might kill all units not yet in production and take their chances in court as they did the signalling contract in London. That leaves TTC with little if any chance of having sufficient accessible capacity in place by end 2024. In theory it could buy some of whatever SEPTA does with slight dimensional mods, but there's no timeframe and CanCon would have to put aside.
The other issue would be the survival of Bombardier as it currently exists. The province might offer to buy the Thunder Bay plant but without the overseas supply chain continuing to function that only gets you so far.
Assuming the company survives, I expect a face saving deal with the province kicking in some cash to help get some more ALRVs refurbed and to cover the incremental costs of a quick S70 or Citadis buy for Metrolinx, depending on who has the delivery slots available. Bombardier would continue to build the Crosstown vehicles and with this city's record on infrastructure it's possible no one will end up noticing the cars are late anyway because the stations will, like their cousins on Spadina Extension, be years late.
