Sacramento, Calif., Light-Rail Plant Gets $84 Deal
Posted on: Saturday, 22 October 2005, 00:00 CDT
By Dale Kasler, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Oct. 21--The Siemens light-rail plant in Sacramento has obtained another substantial contract, an $84 million deal to supply transit cars for Edmonton, Alberta.
Under the contract, the Siemens Transportation Systems Inc. plant will build 26 cars for the Canadian city's transit system. Deliveries will start in May 2008.
The contract is the first big deal the Sacramento Siemens plant has announced since last December, when it landed a $99 million agreement to supply light-rail cars to Calgary, Alberta.
Siemens spokeswoman Xanthi Pinkerton said it's unclear whether the Edmonton agreement will generate new jobs.
However, the company already plans to add 75 workers as it expands its Sacramento plant in order to assemble the exterior "shells" of the rail cars, Pinkerton said. For years the shells have been assembled in Southern California and other locations and then brought to Sacramento for installation of the brakes, propulsion systems and other equipment.
The expansion, announced in July, represents a $7 million investment, she said.
Siemens, one of the area's major manufacturers, employs 350 workers at its south Sacramento location.
The Edmonton contract takes the Siemens light-rail program back to its roots. Edmonton was Siemens' first North American customer for light-rail vehicles, when it purchased 37 cars in 1978.
Back then the cars were assembled in Europe; it wasn't until 1984 that the company opened its first North American plant, in Sacramento.
The new contract reflects the growing popularity of light rail in the Canadian city. "They're expected to double their ridership," Pinkerton said.
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SI, SIE,
Source: The Sacramento Bee
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