A decision by the Societé de transports de Montréal to pull its 12 Azur métro trains from circulation pending an investigation into a malfunction that shut down the Orange Line last weekend is the latest bump in the trains’ rocky, decade-long ride to Montreal.
The $1.2-billion deal to construct the trains was handed to Bombardier by the Quebec government in 2006 without a call for tenders, a move that led to a flurry of lawsuits that only ended four years later with the creation of a consortium pairing Bombardier with Alstom of France, the latter constructing a plant in Quebec that employed up to 300 people.
By the time the first nine-car Azur train was finally ready to run in STM tunnels in 2014, it was discovered that about 200 metres of tunnel had to be shaved for the new trains to fit safely. Then in 2015, deliveries were delayed because automatic control software was not ready.
Last weekend’s service disruption means that the STM’s campaign to improve commuter service by increasing métro frequency has been put on hold, the Azur trains being the cornerstone of the project.
It also means that Montreal commuters will continue to ride to work in the same, decades-old rolling stock the Azur trains were supposed to replace, trains that date from the 1960s and 1970s but trains which, unlike the Azur, continue to run.
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