Siemens To Manufacture Trainsets For America’s First High-Speed Rail Connecting Las Vegas To Southern California

Siemens has won a contract to build trainsets for the Brightline West high-speed rail project that will connect Las Vegas and southern California, the German engineering company announced last week.

A watershed moment for America, the Brightline West system has been touted as the “first true high-speed rail system” in the US.

The rolling stock giant was designated the “preferred bidder” after a multi-year competitive procurement process conducted among multiple global competitors.

The contract entails the production and delivery of 10 "American Pioneer 220" (AP 220) trainsets to Nevada, where they will undergo testing to support Brightline West’s timeline of initiating service in 2028. 

Additionally, the contract also includes a 30-year rolling stock maintenance contract that will be performed at Brightline West’s Vehicle Maintenance Facility in Sloan, Nevada. Here, maintenance crews will perform routine daily maintenance, as well as long-term overhauls and repairs.

The AP 220 will be the first true high-speed trainsets to be built in America and are designed for operational speeds of up to 220 miles per hour. These seven-car trains will carry between 434 and 450 passengers, completing the journey in under two hours. The trains will be built in accordance with all applicable “Buy America” requirements.

Earlier on 22 April, Brightline West celebrated its groundbreaking for the 218-mile high-speed rail system.

The route, which has full environmental clearance, will traverse the median of the I-15 highway, completely avoiding grade crossings. It will include a flagship station in Las Vegas, with additional stations in Apple Valley, Hesperia, and Rancho Cucamonga in California.

Based on the company's vision to connect city pairs that are too short to fly and too far to drive, Brightline West will transport passengers from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in about two hours, twice as fast as the normal drive time.

Trains could be operational by early 2028, in time for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The $12 billion project was recently awarded $3 billion in funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The rest of the project will be privately funded.