In July, WTS Sacramento hosted Robin Stimson, the Vice President of Business Development of passenger rail at Siemens, for the Chapter’s monthly lunch program. With over 35 years of experience at Siemens, Stimson provided us the insight to Siemen’s success in cornering key markets in mobility and transportation infrastructure within the US and Sacramento region.
As part of the international conglomerate Siemens AG, Siemens Mobility has built a global reputation within the 3 sectors of industry, infrastructure, and mobility by striving for sustainable, user-friendly, and innovative solutions. With key focuses on urbanization, climate change, post-pandemic resiliency and demographic changes, Siemens Mobility is dedicated to creating technology that improves the livability of urban environments. Stimson emphasized that improving connectivity between communities through extensive transit networks consisting of heavy and light rail is key to creating these livable urban cores.
Siemen’s success in California began in 1984 with an order for light rail vehicles placed by the City of Sacramento. The Federal funding package used for the purchase of this rolling stock included “Buy America” requirements, which stipulated that these light rail vehicles must be locally assembled. This requirement encouraged Siemens to bring their assembly capabilities to the Sacramento region. Given the strong local labor force and sufficient plant placement options, Siemens identified the Sacramento site to be an excellent location for serving the growing Western U.S./Canada market. In 1986, the win of the San Diego fleet order further convinced Siemens to remain within the Sacramento region and expand its assembly capabilities. Between 1992 and 2015, Siemens expanded the Sacramento assembly plant to include manufacturing of light rail vehicle bogie/truck and carshells of locomotives and passenger coaches.
Today, the plant spans over 60 acres and employs 2,100 skilled workers within its 701,295 square foot factory. The site is fully furnished with electrified test tracks, a 2-megaWatt solar energy plant, as well as warehousing capabilities for the storage of over 26,000 parts required for car assembly. The manufacturing plant also relies on nearly 200 California-based suppliers with over 40 suppliers located within the Sacramento region itself.
The Siemens Rail Car Plant located in Sacramento currently manufactures intercity cars, passenger locomotives and light rail vehicles, and supplies modern rolling stock for almost 60% of California’s passenger rail operators.