Bombardier Inc. is supplying the Chicago Transit Authority with 706 rail cars. Forty of the first cars delivered have been withdrawn from service because of a quality issue.
Bombardier's railway division faces more quality issues after Chicago Transit Authority pulled 40 newly built cars from service as a safety precaution because of problems with a part made in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
The Chicago agency said it took the step late Thursday because of a "small number of manufacturing quality issues" its inspectors first noticed in November while working at the Bombardier facility.
The flaw on the 5000-Series rail cars involve a casting used to create wheel bearing housings, a part of the truck assembly that holds the wheels and axle to the car body. The casting is moulded steel that is later machined to specific specifications.
The casting was replaced, but a second quality issue surfaced last week. Inspections discovered problems with other castings, the agency said on its website.
"This decision demonstrates an abundance of caution on our part as we work with Bombardier to address these issues," stated transit president Forrest Claypool.
The Chicago transit group, the second largest in the United States, placed an order in 2006 for 706 cars worth $1.1-billion (U.S.).
It will stop taking deliveries of the cars until the issue is resolved. Older cars will be used in the interim and service won't be affected, it added.
In addition to the inspections in New York, checks were made on the 52 rail cars already delivered to Chicago.
Bombardier spokeswoman Maryanne Roberts said no problems were identified on the delivered cars.
"It may just be a bad batch of that part or something like that," she said in a interview from outside Philadelphia.
Ms. Roberts described the problem as a "blemish" or "imperfection" and likened it to a scratch on a new car. More details about the cause or seriousness of the problem could be discovered this week.
All inspections will be paid for by Bombardier Inc. as part of the warranty.
Benoit Poirier of Desjardins Capital Markets said he expects the wheel-bearing supplier will ultimately be held responsible for the manufacturing quality issues.
"At this point, it remains unclear whether production of these trains will continue while the issues are being investigated," he wrote in a report.
But Ms. Roberts said production isn't stopped, although deliveries have been halted.
Bombardier is scheduled to deliver 192 cars to Chicago in 2012.
The cars went into full-time service in November and will replace the network's oldest rail cars, which are between 32 and 42 years old.
The Berlin-based division of Bombardier Inc. took a hit in its third-quarter financial results when deliveries of several rail contracts in Europe were halted over manufacturing quality issues.
Deliveries were recently restarted to Deutsche Bahn, SNCF and SJ AB-Swedish State Railway, which should improve Bombardier's free-cash flows.
It faced a more serious problem when the first of 20 locomotives delivered to Montreal's commuter train network derailed Dec. 9 at Central Station.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigated the incident, which didn't result in any injuries. The locomotive was pulling nine double-decker Bombardier trains, one of which also dislodged from the rails.