OTTAWA — Bombardier Inc. anticipated problems with high-speed passenger trains it built for Amtrak months before the equipment went into service, documents tucked away in a Washington, D.C. courthouse indicate, the National Post reports.
They cast fresh light on the trains’ recent mechanical troubles.
Bombardier also alleges that Amtrak, the American passenger rail company, has “wrongfully withheld $51-million in project payments.”
In an August, 2000, letter to Amtrak, Bombardier warned that “in major respects,” the high-speed trains did not comply with contract requirements. It pointed to possible “defects” in the trains’ undercarriages.
Last month, 18 of the trains were pulled from what was supposed to be North America’s showcase high-speed passenger rail service, after cracks were discovered in suspension systems. The cracks have been patched and most of the service has been restored.
The disruption cost Amtrak an estimated US$9-million in lost revenues. It also reignited concerns that the trains, financed through a US$611-million loan from Canada’s Export Development Corp., will never live up to their billing as a speedy, reliable alternative to air travel.
Dubbed the Acela Express, the trains have caused headaches since a consortium led by Bombardier began work on them in 1997.
Facing a financial crisis, Amtrak had gambled on the trains to reverse its sagging fortunes. It was eager to begin high speed service between Boston and Washington as quickly as possible.
Bombardier claims it felt pressure “to deliver equipment allegedly contractually non-compliant in major respects for revenue service,” according to an August, 2000 letter that company wrote to Amtrak.
The trains entered service four months later, more than a year behind schedule.
Bombardier is suing Amtrak for “not less than US$200-million,” claiming that persistent meddling by the train operator forced the consortium to incur cost overruns.
Bombardier won’t discuss the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court last November, nor will it reveal if Amtrak has made any payment on the trains.
In July, a lawyer representing Amtrak told a Washington judge that “we think Bombardier messed up this contract something fierce, that there was incompetence in meeting contract specifications.”
However, Bombardier claims it warned Amtrak as early as 1997 that “inadequate” railway infrastructure along the Boston to Washington corridor did not meet “international high-speed safety and ride-quality standards,” and that poor track quality could pose problems for the new trains.
New federal track standards that Amtrak encouraged were “unsafe for high-speed train service,” Bombardier said, citing an opinion from French high-speed rail experts.
The latest service disruption has been a major source of embarrassment for Bombardier, which is already reeling from its first-ever profit warning and a plunging stock price.
The Acela trains have been described as “beautiful animals hobbled by their environment,” and likened to British Columbia’s notorious Pacificats, expensive ferries that now sit in dry dock.