Ontario Construction News staff writer
Aecon Infrastructure Management Inc., Buttcon Limited, EllisDon Corporation, Kenaidan Contracting Ltd. and Pomerleau Inc. are invited to bid on two projects to modernize VIA Rail maintenance centres in Montreal and Quebec.
Following a Request for Qualifications issued in January 2020, the five companies were selected to participate in two separate Request for Proposal (RFP) processes and will need to submit their respective proposals by July 2021 (Toronto Maintenance Centre) and August 2021 (Montreal Maintenance Centre).
“Despite the pandemic, we have continued to work on our large-scale modernization projects, which will transform passenger rail service in Canada,” said Cynthia Garneau, VIA president and chief executive officer.
“This announcement is proof of the progress we are making. This is, in fact, another example of how we are getting closer to completing one of the building blocks of our High Frequency Rail project, which will offer more frequencies and connect more communities to our network.”
The following criteria will be used when selecting the firms during the procurement process: price and quality, which includes, amongst others, construction schedule and safety.
The scope of work for the project includes:
- A combination of constructing new buildings and making facility infrastructure upgrades at both centres, including architectural, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and communication engineering systems.
- Supplying and installing train set maintenance equipment to support the new and existing fleets.
- Projects to modernize maintenance centres in Montreal and Toronto are part of the corridor fleet replacement program, with funds were allocated in the Federal government’s 2018 budget.
VIA Rail will conduct fair, open and transparent RFP processes and in line with industry best practices, Garneau said in a press release. In addition, an independent Fairness Monitor has been appointed to ensure that the RFP processes will be executed with the utmost diligence and fairness. VIA Rail will be supported by a team of technical, financial and legal experts throughout the processes.
The first train set of the new Corridor fleet is expected to be commissioned into revenue service in 2022.