Sound Transit has ordered 122 new light rail vehicles (LRVs) from Siemens to meet the needs of an expanding rail network. The contract is worth approximately $554 million. The vehicles will be manufactured by Siemens Industry, Inc. in Sacramento, Calif.
The new LRVs will feature a spacious interior with more passenger room than the current fleet of 62 cars. Final passenger capacities will be determined as the interior designs are finalized. The LRVs will also provide more room for luggage and hooks for hanging four bikes per vehicle. Current trains only provide hooks for two bikes.
The new fleet will begin arriving in 2019 for testing ahead of Sound Transit's light rail extension from the University of Washington to Northgate opening in 2021.
Sound Transit needs to nearly triple the size of its current fleet by 2023, when it will operate nearly 50 miles of light rail lines extending to Lynnwood in the north, Bellevue and Redmond’s Overlake area to the east and the Kent/Des Moines area in the south. The 30 miles of extensions and new light rail vehicles are part of the 2008 voter-approved Sound Transit 2 expansion plan.
Sound Transit's Link light rail averaged an estimated 63,577 weekday riders in the second quarter of 2016, a 76 percent increase over the same period last year and a new record for the second quarter weekday ridership.