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5 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,N ovem ber 15,2018 w aterloochronicle.ca 85 BRIDGEPORT RD. E. WATERLOO (Across from the Bridgeport Rd. Plaza) Since 1971 519-893-8118 MON., TUES., WED. 10 AM - 6 PM THURS., FRI. 10 AM - 8 PM SATURDAY 9 AM - 5 PM SUNDAY 12 PM - 4 PM Design your own sofa, loveseat or sectional available in both fabric & leather Choose from hundreds of Configurations and style options! available in both fabriC & leather Visit our clearance centre and saVe 30-70% on selected items!! 1-855-372-9866 | draytonentertainment.com/holiday-inn Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin Book by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge Based on the Film fromUniversal Photo credits: Jayme Armstrong and Zach Trimmer inHoliday Inn. Cana dian prem iere! Nov 22 - Dec 30 Hamilton Family Theatre Cambridge (Formerly Dunfield Theatre Cambridge) Join us for a celebratory musical as the beloved 1942 film comes to life on stage. Featuring 20 hits by Irving Berlin including "White Christmas," "Cheek to Cheek,""Steppin'Out withMy Baby," "Blue Skies," andmore! WATERLOO REGION - Bombardier says it's not solely responsible for pushing back the Ion launch to next spring. "A complex project like this one requires the col- laboration and co-opera- tion of many entities," Da- vid Van der Wee, chief op- erating officer at Bombar- dier Transportation, said in an email statement. "Overall, Bombardier is on track to deliver to its commitment." Instead of the expected service start in December, passengers won't be boarding Ion trains until spring 2019. "It's not entirely a sur- prise given the track re- cord of Bombardier up to this point," Coun. Tom Galloway said on Tuesday when the delay was an- nounced at a council meeting. Regional Chair Ken Seiling added that region- al staff worked diligently to push both Bombardier and construction consor- tium GrandLinq to get Ion service started on time. "It's unfortunate that the weak link in this sys- tem has been our private sector partners and they're the ones who have let us down in this process and so we're making the best of it as we can," Seil- ing said. A report by regional staff released Tuesday said that according to Bombardier's current schedule, all 14 vehicles are scheduled to be ready in early February. Bombardier said the report does not complete- ly represent the situation. It says the completion of the first vehicle with the specialized equipment was on time. "So far, we met all our key milestones and we are on the right path to deliv- er all 14 cars with special- ized equipment in Water- loo by the end of 2018 as promised." Eleven vehicles are currently in the region and three remain at Bom- bardier's Kingston plant. Specialized equipment that's needed to operate the vehicles on the system must be installed after the vehicles are assembled and the region made a deal with Bombardier to do that installation. That agreement included spe- cific delivery milestones. Only four of the vehi- cles here have the equip- ment installed, a process which the region said is taking longer than expec- ted. "If the cars had been on time, this wouldn't be an issue," Seiling said on Wednesday. Bombardier says the integration of the special- ized equipment requires an intensive tear down and rebuild of the vehicle. "We put together a very aggressive schedule and deployed all the necessary resources to meet the milestones, including hir- ing more employees in Ontario and investing at our Kingston manufactur- ing site," Van der Wee said. After the equipment is installed, the trains must be tested and have a "burning-in period" of 600 kilometres before they can start service. None are yet service ready. The region contracted Bombardier to build 14 light rail vehicles, origi- nally expected to be deliv- ered by the end of 2016. The first arrived in Febru- ary 2017. Light rail between Wa- terloo and Kitchener was slated scheduled to launch in 2017. Total added costs are estimated at $50 million, putting the project budget at $868 million. The region's contract with Bombardier includes a damages clause, and its legal team is now looking into options. "We are going to try to recover as much of our costs as we can," Seiling said. jweidner@there- cord.com Twitter: @WeidnerRe- cord BOMBARDIER SAYS IT'S MEETING ION MILESTONES JOHANNA WEIDNER jweidner@therecord.com LOCAL