Siemens wins big San Francisco order

摘要

Siemens has won a $648million contract to build 175 new S200 type two-car light rail vehicles for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni). The new LRVs will be built in California at Siemens'Sacramento rolling stock and loco plant. The precise design of the new LRVs will be finalised after a public consultation, with the first unit entering service in 2016. Siemens say the LRVs will feature a lightweight drive system that re-uses braking energy, plus LED interior lighting that uses up to 40% less power than existing systems. An option for 85 more LRVs was agreed to enable the fleet to expand in the future. Muni operates six light rail lines, totalling 65 route miles, many of which travel under the city centre in the 5.5 mile-long Muni-Metro tunnel under Market Street, which has nine underground stations. Part of the underground section dates back to 1918, the remainder was opened in 1980. The new Muni-Metro was initially operated by LRVs supplied by Boeing, but these were not successful so 151 two-car LRVs were bought from Italian firm Ansaldo Breda. Deliveries started in 1996, replacing all the Boeing vehicles by 2002.