USA: The manufacturer plans to establish production of Pioneer 220 high-speed EMUs for Brightline West in the town of Horseheads, New York.
The US operator has placed an order with Siemens for ten seven-car trains for the Vegas-to-LA high-speed rail line, which is now under construction. The Pioneer 220s, based on the Velaro Novo platform, will have a design speed of 354 km/h.
The production facility, where the German manufacturer will begin assembly in 2026, will occupy almost 28,000 m2 and will employ around 300 people, including electro-mechanical assemblers, quality control and commissioning and test engineers, project management, supply chain management and logistics staff.
This is Siemens’ third rolling stock assembly plant in the US, joining facilities in California and North Carolina. The German manufacturer also has several component production sites in the country.
It is worth remembering that Siemens and Alstom have already announced that they are not ready for full localisation of high-speed trains in the USA because of the small size of orders. The localisation level of the Pioneer 220 has not yet been revealed. The known investment of $60 mln does not seem significant, especially if one considers that this is the amount that would be invested if the plant were built from scratch. By comparison, the investment in the expansion of Russia’s Ural Locomotives alone to prepare the plant for the serial production of high-speed trains will reach about RUB 44 bln or $484 mln.
