Bombardier sends Eglinton Crosstown, Finch West LRT test car to Kingston, Ont. for trials

A prototypelight-rail vehiclefor Toronto'sEglintonCrosstownandFinch WestLRT linesis en route toundergo testing two years after Bombardier was supposed to deliverthe project's first test car.

Bombardier spokesman Marc-Andre Lefebvretold CBC Toronto, "Bombardier is quite happy that our LRV projects are going forward."

"I can confirm our LRV pilot vehicle has gone to the next step and has left Thunder Bay to go to our Kingston site," he said.

Lefebvre said Mondaythat because the prototype is traveling by rail, itshould arrive in Kingston, Ont. in about five to 10days.

Testing has already begunat Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant. But nine months of qualification testing still needs to be doneand it is unclear when those tests will begin.

The first look at the LRT car came thanks to photos tweeted byRyersonUniversity urban planning graduateChrisDrew. The photos, taken by his friend BrianMartyniuk, showed the testvehicle on a railway flatcar in Thunder Bay on Sunday.

• Metrolinx'concerned' about Bombardier delays forEglintonCrosstown vehicles

Metrolinxis working to resolve its dispute with Bombardier Inc. over delivery delays of light-rail vehicles needed for the two key Toronto transit lines:theEglintonCrosstown, which is already under construction, and Finch West.

On Nov. 3, the provincial transit agency filed a notice of intentto the Quebec companyto cancel a $770-million contract to build 182 light-rail vehicles.

And while it may still not cancel the contract, the agency did take the required steps should it need to ask a court to rip up the deal.

• Metrolinx files notice to terminate Bombardier contract worth over $700M
• Bombardier must shape up to avoid tumbling like 'house of cards,' says expert

Earlier this month,Lefebvresaid the delays in therolloutof the light-rail vehicle prototype wouldn't affect production of the final vehicles.

The prototype is only one of 182 light-rail vehicles, he said, which aren't required to be produced until early 2018.

They won't be in service until 2021.