US states order Siemens passenger locomotives

The US states of Illinois, California, Michigan, Missouri and Washington have placed an order with Siemens for a new fleet dual-mode passenger locomotives.

In a contract worth around $225 million (€165 million), Siemens will build 32 diesel-electric units at its site in Sacramento, California, for regional and mainline services across the USA.

The order includes an option for 225 additional locomotives, with the first batch due to be delivered between 2016 and 2017.

Siemens has committed to procuring all of the new Charger locomotives’ components from the domestic US market. Indiana-based Cummins has already been confirmed as the engine supplier.

The vehicles have a maximum speed of 200 km/h and are based on the Eurosprinter, Eurorunner and Vectron locomotives currently operating in Europe.

Jochen Eickholt, chief executive of the Siemens Rail Systems Division, said: “For Siemens this order marks our entry into the US diesel-electric locomotive market and strongly underscores our long-term vision for the US passenger rail market.”

Last month, US Vice President Joe Biden attended the inauguration of the first of 70 Siemens Cities Sprinter locomotives ordered by Amtrak for the Northeast Corridor.




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