LRT vehicle testing delayed until further notice

Another day, another tale of local LRT delays.

It was announced Thursday morning on Twitter that the much anticipated ION LRT vehicle testing has now been postponed until further notice.

Tom Galloway, Chair of the Planning and Works Committee, explains what happened.

“It’s disappointing. There are some documentation issues apparently between Bombardier, who owns the vehicle, and GrandLinq, who are going to do the testing. So hopefully, this can be corrected fairly quickly, and we can get on with things.”

Galloway says the Region is working closely with project partners to determine when the testing will start.

“It’s quite complicated actually — we are the purchasers of the vehicles, but we don’t own them yet. Bombardier still owns them, as they have not been commissioned. GrandLinq has to install some equipment, and they will be the ones operating the vehicles and doing some of the testing,” said Galloway. “So from what I understand, and I don’t know the full details, there is some documentation that GrandLinq would like to have before they take the vehicle out of the shop for testing.”

Galloway adds that he can’t deny these delays can be frustrating, but says he doesn’t expect them to affect the launch of LRT service next spring.

“Because the vehicles are almost a year late, I can’t deny a little frustration. But this doesn’t necessarily delay the start of LRT service, it just delays the commencing of some of the testing. The sooner we can get these tests done, and get the vehicles up to standard and commissioned, the better it will be down the road for the subsequent vehicles that are being produced.”

Follow 570 NEWS on Twitter @570NEWS and @570Traffic for the latest updates.