It was a good news day at Ontario Northland, as a new alliance with Metrolinx will mean the start of what Ontario Northland CEO Corina Moore believes will be a successful relationship between the sister crown corporations.
The new relationship will start with 15 Metrolinx bi-level coaches which will be remanufactured and repaired at the North Bay ONR facility.
“That is the best part of it, it is long term certainty. We can say we are ramping up this project and this will mean not just 15 cars, we are going to prove that we do lots and lots of work for Metrolinx the same we are doing for other railways so it means long term security and really great career jobs here in North Bay,” said Moore at the media event on Wednesday.
See related: Ontario Northland union boss favours Metrolinx alliance
Moore would not say whether the project will bring in more jobs as she noted that a project of this magnitude takes about nine months to ramp up.
“As we ramp up the project and how we are going to deliver the project and how quickly they want the cars that will determine the workforce,” said Moore.
“So right now it is security for the current workforce and then as we require these resources then we will be able to hire new resources.”
The news officially reveals the return of a partnership that was dismantled by the McGuinty Liberal government back in 2012.
“We are going to work very closely with Ontario Northland both in an open book approach on how we do the production and also on a good production schedule which would be great for both businesses,” said Phil Verster, President and CEO of Metrolinx.
Verster notes that refurbishment work is very challenging work, including mechanical corrosion repair work.
“A significant number of cars in our fleets need refurbishment every now and again and if this contract goes well there could be further work in the future,” said Verster.
Moore says the team at their ONR manufacturing and repair centre is up for that challenge.
“We have skills at this property and across Northern Ontario in Cochrane as well, with mechanical skills that are not available in any other place in North America because of the fact that we work on our own rail assets and we have proven that,” boasted Moore.
Vic Fedeli, Nipissing MPP is thrilled to see this partnership coming together.
“My job in Toronto is to be their Toronto-face of this sales effort. I think the quality product that they put out was the biggest sales feature,” said Fedeli.