On Friday, March 25th, U.S. Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg toured Siemens rail manufacturing plant in Sacramento, CA, where Siemens designs and manufactures across the entire spectrum of rolling stock including commuter and regional passenger trains, light rail and streetcars, locomotives, passenger coaches and high-speed trainsets. Administrator Feinberg’s visit highlighted rail innovation and included a look at the first fully-produced diesel-electric Charger locomotive which will now move into testing.
“Rail is essential today but will be even more so in the future. A recent U.S. Department of Transportation study found that over the next 30 years the country’s population will increase by 70 million people, so rail will continue to be vital to move the population and our economy today and in the future”, said FRA Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg. “During my visit to this plant, one with a huge number of employees, I saw that Siemens is building locomotives and equipment not just for right now, but they’re also building for the future of rail travel which is a great success story.”
The Sacramento manufacturing plant has been in operation for over 30 years and employs over 800 people. The 583,000 square-foot rail plant boasts full manufacturing capabilities including design, engineering, testing, carshell, bogies, subassembly and final assembly. To meet growing demand for its passenger rail locomotive and coach technology, Siemens recently opened a new 125,000-sqft expansion at the plant and plans to hire over 200 manufacturing positions over the next 18 months to meet its growing needs. The plant is currently engineering and building electric locomotives for Amtrak and SEPTA, new diesel-electric charger locomotives for the Departments of Transportation in Illinois, California, Michigan, Missouri, Washington and Maryland, light rail vehicles for four cities, and high-speed trainsets for Brightline.
“We were honored to host FRA Administrator Feinberg at our Sacramento plant to show her first-hand the advanced manufacturing work being done by our over 850 employees for customers across the U.S.,” said Michael Cahill, president of Siemens Rolling Stock. “Siemens is building innovative, high-performance and energy-efficient transportation solutions and we’re thrilled the Administrator was able to see many of the technologies that will that will enhance mobility for riders, businesses and economies.”
