Two senior transit executives at Metrolinx appear to be the casualties of a major shakeup at the provincial transit agency, Global News has learned, as the Crown corporation struggles with the delayed delivery of multiple light rail vehicle projects.

On Tuesday, Metrolinx told employees about changes that mean the agency’s chief planner and the chief operating officer of rapid transit had both left the company, as the planning department undergoes a complete overhaul.

The changes come in the wake of several Global News stories outlining the construction and financial challenges plaguing the Eglinton Crosstown, Finch West and Hurontario LRTs which have left all three projects without a completion date.

Metrolinx said its “mandate and the complexity” of the work it handles is changing, citing that as a reason for the internal shakeup.

The LRT delays have led to persistent calls for top-to-bottom transformation at Metrolinx, including the firing of its CEO Phil Verster, who remains in the position.

The changes, however, appear to relate to the province’s transit construction woes: one of the executives who left the agency was directly involved in the delivery of transit projects, while another dealt with public-private partnerships, also known as P3 projects.

A now-deleted description of the chief planning officer’s role said they had “overseen the construction and completion of countless instrumental infrastructural pieces” and “partnered with Infrastructure Ontario on the procurement of P3 projects.”

The chief operating officer of rapid transit, who is also no longer with the agency, was “responsible for bringing into service the upcoming Light Rail Transit, and Subways Systems.”

Metrolinx said it would not comment on the employment of individual employment changes.

Multiple sources also confirmed the planning department — which had hundreds of staff — had been split and moved into various other areas of the organization.

The planning department’s responsibilities included design, business cases and land use decisions. Local and regional integration for the massive transit agency was also part of its role.

“Metrolinx’s mandate and the complexity of our work has increased significantly over the past several years. As a result, there is a need for the organization to evolve and adapt to deliver on North America’s largest transit expansion,” a Metrolinx spokesperson told Global News.

“This requires that the right combinations of people, competencies, processes, and structures are in place. It’s not unusual for organizations to make strategic changes to its management structure from time to time to better align with more complex scopes of work and project priorities. Metrolinx is no different.”

The provincial transit agency has been struggling for some time with several delayed light rail projects.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT and the Finch West project, both in Toronto, have been plagued with legal challenges from their builders who allege the role of the TTC has made it harder for them to complete their construction work.

On both projects, Metrolinx has withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in final payments from the construction consortiums until it is satisfied the routes are finished.

Meanwhile, in Mississauga, the Hurontario LRT appears also to be facing construction and financing issues, with the warning it could have its credit rating downgraded.

None of the three lines — due to open originally in 2020, 2023 and 2024 — have concrete opening dates.

Opposition critics at Queen’s Park said the latest changes to Metrolinx show the Ford government’s transit agenda is stalling and mired in delays.

“Under Ford’s watch, Ontario’s transit planning has gone off the rails,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in a statement.

“The province’s transit planning agency no longer having a chief transit planner could mean even more delays for vital transit projects. While a shake-up at Metrolinx is long overdue, things can’t get much better while Ford’s million dollar man Phil Verster remains CEO.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said Metrolinx’s CEO had to be the one to go.

“The premier needs to call for the resignation of Phil Verster at Metrolinx and we need to fix what’s happening at Metrolinx right now,” he told Global News, in response to delays with the Hurontario LRT.

“It is completely unacceptable that the Ford government cannot deliver LRTs on time or on budget and they’re holding no one accountable for it.”

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The company building the Hurontario LRT, also known as the Hazel McCallion line, appears to have hit major financial hurdles leading to new warnings that the project is at risk of a credit downgrade if it can’t meet upcoming construction targets.

Mobilinx Hurontario — the construction consortium building the 18-km line — was awarded a $4.6 billion contract in 2019 to design, build, finance and operate the line for 30 years.

While the line was initially promised to be delivered in “Fall 2024,” according to Infrastructure Ontario, the LRT no longer has an official opening date as a result of what appears to be construction and financing issues related to the project.

Mobilinx has faced legal challenges in both Toronto and Brampton over the alleged failure to return equipment, pay rental fees and square up a $2.7-million bill with another subcontractor.

Meanwhile, a new report from S&P Global Ratings pointed to “newly reported delays” in construction that could jeopardize Mobilinx’s ability to pay off its creditors — forcing provincial transit agency Metrolinx to consider a “global settlement.”

“We are aware of the recent S&P Report and are in regular communication with Mobilinx on the project,” a spokesperson for Metrolinx said in a statement.

“When construction nears completion and we move into the testing and commissioning phase, we will be in a better position to provide a specific opening date.”

Mobilinx did not respond to a request for comment from Global News in time for publication.

Despite construction delays through the pandemic, Metrolinx said Mobilinx and its contractors have made “significant progress” in completing the 19-stop Hurontario LRT, which is set to run the length of Mississauga.

Mobilinx installed two push boxes — a large, concrete box used to create tunnels under existing rail and road infrastructure — at the Port Credit GO station and under the Queen Elizabeth Way, while construction of the elevation portion of the LRT, over Highway 403, is also underway.

“Track work has finished at 30 of 55 intersections along the corridor, with six out of 18 stops having now been constructed,” Metrolinx told Global News. “Preparations are also underway for the delivery of the Light Rail Vehicles at our Operations, Maintenance and Storage Facility.”

At the same time Metrolinx says tangible progress is being made on the route, a newly-published credit agency report shows a growing number of issues are plaguing the line, including on an already-installed portion of the track.

“The main reasons for the newly reported delays are special track procurement and track tolerance issues in certain areas of the project’s alignment,” said S&P Global Ratings in an Oct. 2 report.

In some cases, S&P said, Mobilinx discovered track tolerance issues on portions of the LRT that have already been installed but are now “out of compliance with specifications.”

In another instance, in order to accommodate the LRT wheels, Mobilinx had to “make specific design changes” which meant the consortium was forced to “reprocure special tracks” for the project.

“The project believes the root cause has been addressed and is determining a path forward,” S&P said.

The delays, however, also appear to have created a financing problem for the consortium, largely because its timeline for completion is now an open question.

“Since the project is incurring concurrent delays on multiple other fronts, the implications and treatments of such delays are still under discussion,” S&P said.

In 2019, with the construction contract in hand, Mobilinx went to private lenders to secure hundreds of millions in loans, including: $262 million in secured bonds and $487 million in credit facility.

S&P Global Ratings now warns that Mobilinx is at risk of a credit rating downgrade because its “cushion” to repay lenders is quickly running out.

“The CreditWatch placement reflects that we could lower the rating if Mobilinx reports further delays such that we view the senior lenders’ long-stop date is at risk or if it does not receive interim schedule relief and an extension to the longstop date in the next few months,” S&P said.

The credit problems are a concern for one local Mississauga councillor, representing a city that has long advocated to have its own rapid transit route.

“It’s certainly not something you want to see,” Coun. Joe Horneck told Global News. “It’s certainly not a welcome headline and I hope it won’t delay implementation.”

As construction of the Hurontario LRT progressed, the builders also found themselves in court thrashing out multiple financial disputes with subcontractors.

In late 2023, Barricade Traffic & Services filed a lawsuit in Toronto claiming it was owed more than $300,000 for rental equipment that was “not returned or made available for pickup” by Mobilinx.

The company claims that the consortium refused to return traffic control equipment once the retail period had ended and continued to use the equipment “without payment.”

“The plaintiff states that Mobilinx’s refusal to return the outstanding traffic control equipment has, and continues to cause ongoing damage to the plaintiff in terms of lost opportunities in the marketplace,” the company stated in its claim.

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Neither Barricade Traffic nor Mobilinx returned requests for comment.

In another lawsuit, filed in Brampton last year, Vaughan Paving claimed it was contracted by Mobilinx to pour concrete for inlaid rail along the LRT.

“The plaintiff delivered the materials and services requested with the sum of $2,749,126,84, including H.S.T., remaining unpaid and owing.”

It’s unclear whether the cases have been resolved.

While Metrolinx has not publicly drawn attention to the construction or financing issues facing the Hurontario LRT, the latest issues mean it is now the third light rail project under construction in Ontario facing potential serious completion problems.

The years-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT and Finch West LRT, both in Toronto, have been mired in delays, leading to lawsuits between the construction consortiums and Metrolinx and erasing any certainty over when the lines will be in service for transit riders.

“We have obviously read in the media the challenges with the Crosstown LRT in Toronto and other LRT projects,” Horneck said. “I hope that that’s not what we’re talking about here.”

In each instance, Metrolinx has been able to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in final payments from the consortiums — the only leverage the provincial transit agency routinely exerts over large construction firms.

While it’s unclear how much of the $4.6 billion Metrolinx has been able to withhold from Mobilinx, the two entities are now attempting to work out a financial deal that will allow the consortium to pay off its debts.

“We understand that the project is aiming to resolve the pending claims through a global settlement with (contracting authority, Metrolinx),” the S&P report states.

“Although the timeline on the final resolution remains unknown, whether the project can achieve intermediate progress with interim schedule relief in the next few months will be critical to the project’s rating,” S&P added.

Also unknown are the future expansion plans for the Hurontario LRT in Mississauga and Brampton that were abruptly by Premier Doug Ford in late January.

The changes were to take the line north into Brampton and to revive a loop around downtown Mississauga axed during the Ford government’s first term.

“I’m going to spend a couple of billion dollars more to make sure that we do the loop,” Ford said at the time.

Horneck said the city was expecting an update from Metrolinx this fall, but has yet to receive concrete information on the extensions.

“We’re still waiting for what the numbers are going to be like, what the dates of delivery would be like to extend the line we’re already constructing,” Horneck said.

Metrolinx said the province has designated the expansion as a priority transit project and is currently working on planning and funding work but it has not committed to expanding the scope of the Mobilinx contract.

“A construction team will be determined through the planning and procurement process,” Metrolinx said in a statement.

Neither the completion date for the expansion nor its cost have been made public by the Ford government.