Mass Transit - 34

Special Report: U.S. Passenger Rail

Rail Fleets

they will undergo nine months of dynamic testing at
Transportation Technology Center before heading back
east to start service on the Northeast Corridor in 2021.
Siemens landed light-rail orders from Calgary Transit,
which will use the new vehicles to replace cars that have
been in service nearly 40 years, and the Sacramento
Regional Transit District, where the new vehicles will
support its overall light-rail modernization plan.

All modes boast fleets that are in generally good
shape as new orders continue to be executed.
In general terms, the U.S. passenger rail fleet is reliable
with the two most used modes - commuter and heavy
rail - having the highest miles per failure rate. APTA's
2020 Fact Book shows the 2019 average age of commuter/hybrid rail cars, commuter rail locomotives, heavy
rail vehicles, streetcar and light-rail vehicles are all above
20 years of age but below the 25-year minimum life
benchmark set by the Federal Transit Administration.
This past February, New York City Transit retired the last
of its R-42 subway cars after 51 years of service. The
cars have been used on two dozen lines, each traveling more than seven million miles. Back in November,
BART decommissioned the first of its 669 legacy rail cars.
The cars began service on the system in 1995, but, as
reported by BART, the cars will not be missed by shop
technicians who cited propulsion issues with the vehicles. BART will be decommissioning a few of the legacy
fleet at a time to make way for its "Fleet of the Future."
In other future fleet news, the first of Amtrak's Acela trainsets made the trip from Hornell, N.Y., to Colorado where

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The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority signed
an order with Stadler Rail to bring the first hydrogen-powered train to the U.S., which is expected in 2024. Stadler
Rail also signed the single largest rail car order
for both itself and the Metropolitan Atlanta
Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) in
November. The order is for the
purchase of 254 new rail cars
with options for MARTA to
order up to 100 additional rail cars. MARTA
had previously procured cars in 1979,
1985 and 2003, but
this is the first order
where the new
vehicles will replace
retired vehicles.

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Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JUNE 2020

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