The Sound Transit Board of Directors, Seattle, approved an order for 30 additional LRVs from Siemens Industry, Inc. The added vehicles, scheduled to arrive no later than 18 months after final delivery of a previous order placed last fall, will support the opening of Sound Transit’s Link extension projects to Federal Way and downtown Redmond in 2024.
The USD 131 million contract amendment with Siemens enables Sound Transit to exercise an option to procure additional low-floor LRVs under an order placed last year. The first light rail vehicles from that order will be delivered in mid-2019, with subsequent vehicles arriving on a staggered schedule of two to three per month through the first quarter of 2024. As originally planned, forty vehicles will be delivered and tested in time for the Northgate Link Extension opening in 2021, with the remainder arriving in time for deployment when testing begins on the Redmond and South King projects.
Manufactured in Sacramento, CA, the new LRVs will feature several improvements in on-board systems and passenger experience over the current fleet of 62 cars. Each of the new LRVs will provide 74 seats, with larger windows, extra standing room in the center aisle, more space under seats to stow luggage, and four bicycle hooks, twice as many as provided currently. Each car will come equipped with dynamic passenger information displays and LED destination signs will also be included.
The new vehicles will ensure sufficient fleet capacity for service on the Federal Way and Redmond extensions and increase the total number of LRVs procured under this contract from 122 to 152 cars. The order will also allow the agency to take advantage of lower unit pricing options than would be available at a later date.
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