Bombardier misses another streetcar delivery deadline, blaming 'supply chain issues' for latest delay

Montreal-based manufacturer Bombardier will miss yet another deadline to beef up Toronto transit lines with long-awaitednew streetcars, a company spokesperson has said.

The company was projected to deliver 65streetcars to the Toronto Transit Commissionby the end of year, but recently revised that down to 64. In a statement to CBCToronto on Thursday, Bombardier says only 63 streetcars are slated for delivery well short of the company's initial target stated in a December 2016 staff report of 145 vehicles by 2017.

• Bombardier to miss 2017 streetcar target

• Bombardier shipped unfinished streetcars to meet delivery deadline, TTC says

Production plants in Kingston and Thunder Bay will remain open over the holiday season in an attempt to fulfilthe quota.

"We are working over the holidays to honour our commitment," Bombardier spokespersonEric Prud'Hommetold CBCNews. "We've confirmed to theTTCthat we are mitigating issues in our supply chain."

Pattern of delays costing TTCmillions

Bombardier has blamed previous setbacks onfaulty parts from its supplier in Mexico, labour trouble, the intricate nature of the new streetcars and staff changes.

Mayor John Tory said in October the constant delays have become a "farce." Since the city awarded Bombardier a more than $1-billion contract in 2009, the company has repeatedly missed its delivery targets.

The situation became so vexing for the TTC that it sued Bombardier in 2015.

• TTC to sue Bombardier over delayed streetcars

• TTC faces $34M bill to keep old streetcars rolling

In 2016, after multiple revised delivery schedules from Bombardier,the transit operator requested $34 million to repairToronto's agingfleet, unexpectedly still in commission.

Bombardier'sratcheting down of targetshasforced the TTC to usebuses on streetcar routes to meet ridership demand, transit officials said in October.

Bombardier says it's making improvements

Bombardier defends its production rates, saying it has "more than doubled the rate of deliveries" since last year.

"With the investments we made, we've steadily ramped up production like we said we would,"Prud'Hommesaid in a statement. "This has helped us this month to deliver our highest monthly number of cars, with sevenstreetcars being shipped out of Thunder Bay."

Prud'Hommenoted that Bombardier executives recently met with key suppliers to "demand corrective measures to improve performance and accelerate deliveries."

On Friday morning, TTC spokesperson Brad Ross emailed a brief statement to CBC Toronto about the latest missed deadline.

"We remain frustrated and disappointed by these unacceptable delays," Ross said.

Metrolinxmakes cuts to Bombardier deal

On Thursday, Metrolinxannounced it was slashing its order from Bombardier as part of a revision to the $770-million deal.

The manufacturer, originally tapped to deliver 182 light rail vehicles to Metrolinx, will now assemble just 76 for the EglintonCrosstown LRT system.

• Metrolinx makes big cuts to multimillon-dollar deal with Bombardier

Metrolinxalsopromised steep fines for Bombardier if the company fails to deliver on time.

In November 2016, Metrolinx filed a notice of intent to cancel the multimillion-dollar contract with Bombardier, alleging that the transportation manufacturer had missed critical deadlines for the project. However, Bombardier successfully filed an injunction allowing them to keep the EglintonCrosstown contract.