Kitchener-Waterloo

Bombardier layoffs won't affect Waterloo region's LRT train production

After announcing 7,500 layoffs worldwide Friday, Bombardier says there will be no issues delivering Waterloo region's LRT train cars on time.

First rail cars expected in December

Layoffs at Bombardier will not affect the delivery date of LRT trains to Waterloo region. The first train car is expected in December. On Friday, the company announced it is laying off 2,000 workers in Canada and 7,500 globally. (Mike McCulloch/CBC)

Bombardier's announced layoffs will not affect production of the light rail transit trains for Waterloo region, the company says.

"We do not anticipate changes to the delivery schedule of the Ion LRT," Marc-Andre Lefebvre, head of communications and public relations for Bombardier in Canada, told CBC News in an email.

"We will be strategically hiring employees in some of our sites as we ramp-up manufacturing activities on some projects."

On Friday, Bombardier announced it will be cutting 2,000 Canadian jobs over the next two years.

The company has already said it is behind in building the LRT trains at its Thunder Bay plant due to problems assembling the cars.

The first rail car is expected to arrive in December with the final cars arriving in October 2017.

This spring, the region announced the start of LRT service had been delayed until early 2018 due to production problems at Bombardier's plant.