California, Illinois and Maryland have ordered a combined 34 Charger diesel-electric passenger locomotives from Siemens Mobility, bringing the number of state Departments of Transportation procuring these units to six and the total number of units to 69. The locomotives will be built at the Siemens rail manufacturing plant in Sacramento, Calif.
Denver’s Regional Transit District (RTD) and Metro Transit in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul have exercised options worth a combined $132.1 million for 34 additional Siemens light rail vehicles.
On October 5 at Railway Interchange 2015, Siemens introduced RailFusion, a software solution that monitors and analyzes data points across an entire railroad’s infrastructure, including onboard and wayside assets, such as road crossings and end-of-train devices.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Council Environmental Services has published a tender notice for a contract to supply 27 low-floor LRVs with an option for 50 more, even though Metro Transit still has options remaining on an existing contract with Siemens.
Cummins Inc. announced Oct. 2, 2015 that the first production 95-liter, 16-cylinder QSK95 engine built to a rail specification has been shipped.
Michael Peter, 49, has been appointed CEO of Siemens’ Mobility Management Business Unit, effective Oct. 1, 2015. Most recently, Peter was head of the Mainline Rail Automation Business Segment in Braunschweig. He will replace Jürgen Brandes, who will be heading the Process Industries and Drives Division in Erlangen. In his new capacity Peter will report to Jochen Eickholt, CEO of Siemens Mobility Division.
Portland, Ore. added a fifth line to its light rail network on Sept. 12, 2015 with the start of public services on the MAX Orange Line from Portland State University (PSU) to SE Park Avenue in Milwaukie.
The Sacramento Regional Transit District (RTD) on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015 will begin operating the first set of light rail vehicles newly refurbished by Siemens on the recently opened Blue Line light rail extension to Cosumnes River College.
The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) has decided to phase out its 10-unit fleet of AEM7 and HHP8 electric locomotives used for MARC regional/commuter rail service and replace them with eight new 125-mph “Charger” diesel-electric locomotives from Siemens Industry.
Munich, Germany-based Siemens and Montreal, Canada-based Bombardier are engaging in preliminary talks to merge their rail businesses, according to a report in the July 29, 2015 edition of The Wall Street Journal.