NEW YORK — The fatal accident on the new JFK AirTrain was the latest in a series of setbacks for Bombardier, the beleaguered Canadian company whose subway and Amtrak trains have also stalled at the station, the New York Daily News reported.
This summer, the company lost out on its bid for a multibillion-dollar contract to build as many as 1,700 new subway cars after the Transit Authority complained of problems in its existing Bombardier fleet, which was built in upstate New York.
The glitches include shoddy brakes, doors that fail to open or close and trains conking out when the juice from the third rail failed to reach the cars.
Officials said slow trains had resulted in delayed schedules.
Meanwhile, Amtrak’s high-speed Acela trains, which serve the busy Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, had to be taken out of service for weeks because they developed potentially dangerous cracks in their suspension.
Amtrak said the trains, which are now back in service, had “a staggering record of failure” and a horrible on-time record, with more than a quarter failing to reach their destination within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.
Amtrak recently refused to take delivery of its 19th Acela.
Bombardier blamed Amtrak for the problems, saying it had been rushed into delivering the trains.
Meanwhile, the AirTrain crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Operator Kelvin De Bourgh Jr. was killed after his three-car train jumped the rails and plowed into a wall last Friday.
Preliminary indications showed weights inside the train meant to simulate passengers were not secured and suddenly shifted.
Bombardier insisted the AirTrain had “a proven technology” without a single previous accident. But in July, two AirTrains grazed each other during a practice run.
Speaking of the problems on the subway and AirTrain cars, Bombardier spokeswoman Carol Sharp said the technical hitches would be ironed out.
“There are inevitable glitches at first,” said Sharp. “But we’re quite confident that the technology is sound, and we stand behind the quality.”
The problems have helped send Bombardier stock down the tube. It was down 73.5 percent from its 52-week high on the Toronto Stock Exchange.