Skip to main content

Twin Cities’ Metropolitan Council chooses Siemens to provide new light rail vehicles for Southwest expansion

Siemens has been chosen by the US Twin Cities of Minnesota and St Paul Metropolitan Council to manufacture 27 new light rail vehicles that will operate on the Metro Transit Southwest line expansion. Siemens will begin engineering the new vehicles, which will feature improvements including a redesigned middle section to improve passenger flow including wheelchairs and bicycles, ice cutters to remove sleet from the overhead wires that provide the electrical current to power the vehicles, and preferred seat
October 28, 2016 Read time: 1 min
189 Siemens has been chosen by the US Twin Cities of Minnesota and St Paul Metropolitan Council to manufacture 27 new light rail vehicles that will operate on the Metro Transit Southwest line expansion.

Siemens will begin engineering the new vehicles, which will feature improvements including a redesigned middle section to improve passenger flow including wheelchairs and bicycles, ice cutters to remove sleet from the overhead wires that provide the electrical current to power the vehicles, and preferred seating to meet Americans with Disabilities guidelines, among many others.

The contract expands Siemens relationship with the Twin Cities, adding to the existing fleet of 59 Siemens S70 light rail vehicles successfully operating on Metro Transit’s Green and Blue lines.  Five additional S70s are currently in production in Sacramento and will add capacity to the existing system.

The first light rail vehicle is expected to arrive in Minnesota in 2019.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Women driving innovation in mobility
    March 9, 2022
    Transportation was built through the lens of men: that ecosystem needs to change
  • Arup’s vision of urban mobility in 2050
    May 6, 2015
    Arup’s vision of the Future of Highways considers a wide range of factors that will impact on mobility towards the middle of the century. In its consideration of the Future of Highways through to 2050, international consultants Arup has taken a broad and pragmatic view of where society is heading and the effects that will have on the transport requirements. In terms of major drivers it not only cites
  • Transit Windsor rolls out intelligent transportation system
    February 17, 2017
    Transit Windsor in Ontario, Canada has begun the testing phase of its new intelligent transportation system (ITS) as part of an ongoing effort to create a more efficient, safer and more user-friendly public transit system. Currently, ten Transit Windsor buses are equipped with the new system and providing automated stop announcements. This system provides onboard voice and visual announcements, which include next stop messages. Voice announcements are coordinated with display signs inside the bus. Pre-b
  • Siemens to modernise Northamptonshire traffic systems
    August 23, 2012
    An extensive programme to upgrade Northampton County Council's current traffic systems is about to get underway. Siemens will initially provide Northamptonshire in the UK with the latest PC SCOOT UTC system and replace the existing Prefect system with the company’s recently launched InView hosted fault management solution. Subsequent phases will see the swapping out of all existing analogue TC12 outstations for the latest Siemens UTMC compliant UG405 outstations and ultimately the migration to a new hosted