Siemens Launches $850M Production of Desiro Trains for Sochi Olympics

As Marchmont wrote earlier, in the end of 2009 Russian Railways and Siemens signed the $850m contract for production of 54 Desiro shuttle trains (see news of January 12, 2010).

Under the contract, the first 38 trains are to be manufactured at the Siemens plant in Germany, while the other 16 trains are to be partly assembled in Russia - at the JV plant of Siemens, Aeroexpress and Sinara group.

According to the project, all trains are to be dual-system and to be able to operate at lines with direct and alternate current. Each train for 850 passengers is to have five cars. Maximum speed of Desiro train is 160 kilometers per hour.

Under plans, by 2018 Desiro trains are to be almost fully produced in Russia. By 2017 the production localization level is expected to reach 80%. / http://marchmontnews.com