Sacramento Business Journal: Matsui - Infrastructure act money has multiple benefits in Sacramento

The Siemens Mobility Sacramento train factory stands to get more orders as the federal bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act pushes more money toward transit, said Sacramento Congresswoman Doris Matsui, in front of the first partially assembled low-floor light rail car bound for Sacramento Regional Transit.

SacRT had ordered 20 light rail cars from Siemens in December, and it has added eight more cars to the order, with a potential to get to 72 new vehicles over time, said Henry Li, general manager of SacRT, at at press conference at the Siemens plant.

As part of a system upgrade for accessibility, SacRT is replacing its high-doorway models with new, more accessible low-floor trains. The first ones will be ready for SacRT service by fall 2023.

The Sacramento Siemens workforce takes pride in building these trains for the hometown, said Michael Cahill, president of rolling stock with Siemens Mobility. Siemens Mobility built SacRT’s original light rail fleet, which started operating in revenue service in 1987. Many of those vehicles are still in operation today.

The Siemens train factory in Sacramento in the past three years has received new orders for more than $5 billion in trains, coaches and light rail from Amtrak and other rail systems. Siemens Mobility has more than doubled its Sacramento workforce in the past six years, and its current orders will take 10 years to work through, Cahill said.

It takes about four months to build a light rail car, which starts as sheet metal, and eventually rolls out of the factory a completed train.

The Siemens train factory in Sacramento this year marks its 30th anniversary, Cahill said. It sits on 64 acres with 1 million square feet of factory buildings. It employs 2,200 people.

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