The US states of Illinois, California, Michigan, Missouri and Washington have placed an order with Siemens for a new fleet diesel-electric passenger locomotives.
In a contract worth around $225 million (€165 million), Siemens will build 32 diesel-electric units at its site in Sacramento, California, for regional and mainline services across the USA.
The order includes an option for 225 additional locomotives, with the first batch due to be delivered between 2016 and 2017.
Siemens has committed to procuring all of the new Charger locomotives’ components from the domestic US market. Indiana-based Cummins has already been confirmed as the engine supplier.
The vehicles have a maximum speed of 200 km/h and are based on the Eurosprinter, Eurorunner and Vectron locomotives currently operating in Europe.
Jochen Eickholt, chief executive of the Siemens Rail Systems Division, said: “For Siemens this order marks our entry into the US diesel-electric locomotive market and strongly underscores our long-term vision for the US passenger rail market.”
Last month, US Vice President Joe Biden attended the inauguration of the first of 70 Siemens Cities Sprinter locomotives ordered by Amtrak for the Northeast Corridor.
Good news for Siemens, although their European factories will not benefit from the manufacture of any components. This seems typical of American policy, whereby orders will indeed be placed with European companies but ALL manufacturing must be completed within the USA. We should be more forceful and say that any further Class 66s that are ordered must be built “under license” at Brush in Loughborough, with British-made components.
Or what? Siemens won’t take the American dollars? Siemens isn’t the only game in town.
Of course Siemens are very happy to accept American dollars and no doubt, their designs beat locos from Bombardier, GE and EMD. It just seems that the components for these new locos will be 100% sourced from American manufacturers. It gives the impression that, in many sectors, the US has a definite policy of only sourcing from domestic factories which is undoubtedly why a number of European companies (such as Siemens) have opened assembly facilities within the country.
The RFP put in a section about how it would add American jobs. So there is obviously some encouragement to add work in the US. BUT, Caterpillar was bidding in the contract, and it is based in the home state of Illinois. It didn’t get the contract. Also, the engineering, design and other jobs are still based in Europe. The profits go there too.
So don’t be too greedy. None of the work could have gone to Siemens, then no benefit goes to Europe.