California’s North County Transit District (NCTD) has awarded Siemens Mobility a 20-year service and parts contract for its fleet of up to nine Siemens Charger locomotives. They power COASTER regional/commuter rail between Oceanside and San Diego.
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has begun taking delivery on 88 new Siemens “Venture” single-level passenger cars. According to WSP USA Senior Engineering Manager Art Peterson, who supplied these photos to Railway Age, the first four arrived in Chicago in mid-August, and four more are en route.
Amtrak diesel-electric locomotives have worn many liveries over the years since the company was founded in 1971. The latest of these is a variation on the current “Phase VI” scheme that dates to 2002, to be worn by five of the first six ALC-42 Siemens Chargers that will replace the current P40 and P42 “Genesis” fleet on the National Network, including all long-distance and many state-sponsored routes. The sixth unit will be painted to recognize next year’s 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Amtrak service. Amtrak says “a final livery will be unveiled later as part of a fleet-wide plan.”
Bytemark, a Siemens company, has introduced Bytemark Bridge, what it deems “a better choice for transit agencies eager to strengthen connections with their riders.”
Siemens Mobility reported resilient performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, joint CEOs, Sabrina Soussan and Michael Peter, revealed in an online press briefing held June 15.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has begun preparatory work on the next phase of the Culver (F) Line Signal Modernization project in Southern Brooklyn. The $253 million project, which had its original late March start date pushed back in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, will replace 70-year-old technology between Church Ave. and Coney Island with a Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system.
Siemens Mobility has appointed Yves Desjardins-Siciliano as Canadian CEO for Siemens Mobility Limited. Desjardins-Siciliano “aims to build Siemens Mobility’s presence in Canada and lead its team in the provision of transportation solutions to Canadian service providers,” the company said.
Siemens Mobility has entered into an exclusive partnership with Ondas Networks, a developer of private-licensed wireless data networks for mission-critical industrial markets, to bring a Siemens-branded portfolio of its wireless radio communication systems to the North American Rail Market.
Among the final duties that former MTA New York City Transit Vice President Network and Resignaling Pete Tomlin discharged before he left the agency following Andy Byford’s resignation as President was demonstrating an innovative piece of new technology—UWB (Ultra-Wide Band), wireless technology that offers faster and less-expensive installation of modern CBTC (communications-based train control) by eliminating much of the onboard and wayside equipment traditionally required for advanced-technology signaling. Tomlin—arguably one of the finest signaling and train control people on the planet—collaborated with suppliers Thales and Piper Networks in an impressive public demonstration of UWB.
Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) has awarded Siemens Mobility a $100 million contract for 20 new light rail vehicles (LRVs), the first new order from Sacramento since the late 1980s, when SacRT ordered 36 U2A vehicles from Siemens Mobility.