Feb 5 2008
Siemens signed its largest light rail vehicle contract ever with Regional Transportation District (RTD) in Denver, CO worth $184M to build 55 SD160 light rail vehicles. The 55 new vehicles will complete Denver's fleet of light rail cars. "By ordering all the cars needed for FasTracks now, RTD benefits by saving costs through purchasing at today's prices, and having a uniform fleet which will result in operational and maintenance savings." said RTD General Manager and CEO, Cal Marsella.
Siemens Transportation Systems Inc. (STS) in Sacramento, CA. will manufacture the SD160 vehicles from start to finish. "This is our largest order of light rail cars ever! And, it demonstrates our commitment to build quality products and deliver them on time to serve the public." stated Oliver Hauck, president and CEO of STS. Keeping a healthy backlog is crucial for Siemens' employees, especially when manufacturing jobs in the US and California are reported to be on the decline. In the last 18 months, the Sacramento facility workforce has steadily grown by 30 percent since completing their carshell manufacturing expansion.
Denver ranks among the nation's most livable cities, but is also the seventh most congested city in the country. In the next 20 years, there will be another one million new residents in the Denver metro area. The existing transportation system simply cannot handle this population boom and the additional 55 light rail vehicles will meet future transportation needs of Denver's West Corridor, the extensions planned in FasTracks for the Southwest, the Southeast, the I-225 and the Central Corridors, and the enhancements to the Southwest and Southeast Corridors planned in FasTracks. To date, Siemens has delivered 95 vehicles to Denver since the early nineties. The most recent order with Denver was to deliver 34 cars of which nine have been delivered and seven are already in operation. The delivery of the new vehicles is scheduled to begin in 2009 and go through 2012.