San Francisco taps Siemens for additional LRVs

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is exercising an option with Siemens for 40 additional SF200 low-floor light rail vehicles (LRVs), boosting the number of LRVs on order to 215. The option is worth $210 million.

Last September SFMTA signed a $64 million contract for 175 SF200s, and the first prototype vehicle will be delivered in December 2016. Another 23 units are due to arrive by 2018. The LRVs will be assembled at Siemens’ Sacramento plant.

The SFMTA board last week approved the option for 40 additional vehicles last week, and will seek up to $153 million in state cap-and-trade funding. An additional $57 million would come from SFMTA itself. The order essentially will replace San Francisco’s current fleet of Breda light rail vehicles, as well as cover service for the Central Subway extension of the T Line, now under construction.

“These new Siemens vehicles will last 10 times longer than the LRVs currently on our streets,” said SFMTA Chairman Tom Nolan. “The existing LRVs have failures every 5,500 miles. Conversely, the new trains are projected to travel up to 59,000 miles before the first needed repair. Today’s leap forward in our transportation infrastructure will create a faster, more reliable transit system for the people of San Francisco.”

SFMTA has one remaining option for 45 additional vehicles which, if exercised, would take the SF200 fleet to 260 units. Demand forecasts indicate that these LRVs will be required by 2027-2030 to meet projected ridership growth.

“We congratulate Mayor Lee and San Francisco as they continue to enhance mobility in their city,” said Michael Cahill, president of Siemens Rolling Stock. “Siemens is thrilled to extend its technology partnership with San Francisco and provide modern light rail trains to the more than 700,000 passengers who use San Francisco’s transportation system.”