Sound Transit finalized an order on Friday for 122 new light rail vehicles to meet the needs of an expanding rail network amid booming ridership.
The new vehicles will be manufactured by Siemens Industry, Inc. in Sacramento, Calif., at an estimated cost of $554 million, according to a Sound Transit media release. The new vehicles feature a more spacious interior with more passenger room than the current fleet of 62 cars. Final capacities will be determined as the interior designs are finalized.
Along with more passenger room, the new vehicles will have more room for luggage to be stowed beneath seats and hooks to hang four bikes per vehicle. Current trains have hooks for two bikes per car.
Sound Transit needs to nearly triple the size of its current fleet as it expands the light rail network to the north, east and south over the next seven years, adding more than 30 miles of voter-approved extensions.
The new fleet will begin arriving in 2019 for testing ahead of the light rail extension from the University of Washington to Northgate opening in 2021. By 2023, Sound Transit 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 extensions and new light rail vehicles are part of the 2008 voter-approved Sound Transit 2 expansion plan.
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