Amtrak Siemens Venture Car Headed for Canadian Test

During the week of Dec. 5 2022, Union Pacific and CN operated a dedicated train of a single Siemens Mobility “Venture” car from the Amtrak fleet from California to Canada. The coach is destined for the National Research Council of Canada’s rail testing facility in Ottawa Ontario. Pictured is the train passing through Brantford, Ontario on Dec. 3, 2022.

This test car is presumably part of acceptance testing for VIA Rail Canada’s fleet of 32 Siemens Charger locomotive/Venture car trainsets for the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor.

The Venture car dates to to 2017, when Caltrans and IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) amended a $317 million contract for new passenger cars, replacing Nippon Sharyo with Siemens Mobility, which partnered with Sumitomo Corp. of Americas to fulfill a delayed multi-state order. The revised contract involved 137 single-level passenger railcars—49 for Caltrans and 88 for IDOT. Under the original terms of the deal, Sumitomo had subcontracted construction of bi-level cars to Nippon Sharyo of Japan. The revised pact substituted Siemens as a subcontractor, changed specifications to single-level cars, and accelerated delivery from five years to 24-34 months.