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.

Related Content

  • August 8, 2023
    $7bn funding from FHWA for US infrastructure resilience
    Money will be available for highway and transit projects to mitigate climate change effects
  • August 4, 2016
    Canada’s Metrolinx opts for Bombardier rail cars
    Rail technology company Bombardier Transportation is to supply Metrolinx, the Province of Ontario's regional transportation agency for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), with an additional 125 next-generation Bombardier BiLevel commuter rail cars for service with GO Transit in Toronto. The order is valued at US$328 million and production is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2018 with final delivery expected in the first quarter of 2020. The BiLevel coach is a most popular double-deck
  • October 2, 2020
    Siemens Mobility is clearing the air
    Tens of thousands of premature deaths in the UK alone are linked to air quality - but it doesn’t have to be that way. Siemens Mobility’s Wilke Reints explains why
  • October 1, 2014
    Siemens to upgrade Buenos Aires metro signalling
    Siemens has been awarded a US$38 million contract by Subterráneos de Buenos Aires/Sociedad del Estado (SBASE) to upgrade the signalling and passenger information systems on line C of the Buenos Aires Metro system, Subte. The contract includes the installation of a new automated train monitoring system on the five-kilometre metro line as well as an upgrade of the depot operations control centre. Work will be carried out without interrupting services and should be commissioned by the end of 2016.