METRORail - Rolling Stock

Rolling Stock

Houston operates a fleet of 18 Siemens-built Avanto S70 light-rail vehicles, delivered in 2003-2004, purchased for $118 million, and built in Sacramento. Each 96-foot (29 m) long, double-articulated vehicle has four low-platform doors per side, is 70% low-floor, and has a capacity of 72 seated and approximately 169 standing passengers, or a total capacity of around 241 per car. This approximately 250-person capacity has been reached on certain Super Bowl weekends. These S70 cars have a top speed of 66 mph. On this system, trains are operated as single cars or in 2-car sets.

For future expansion of the METRORail system, Metro had originally turned to CAF USA, with a total order of 105 cars. This order was cancelled in February 2011 as it did not meet the "Buy America" clause. CAF gave a refund, which METRO will apply to new cars.

In the spring of 2011, METRO purchased 19 Siemens Avanto S70 cars (the same model as its original 18) that were originally slated for Utah Transit Authority's UTA TRAX system for $83 million. The cars are being built in Sacramento, California. and differ slightly from the cars Utah received in detail, including having more air-conditioning units They are slated to be delivered in October 2012 and enter service by that December. METRO said that these cars were ordered to accommodate ridership that was 4 years ahead of expectations and to get cars more quickly.

In September 2011, the METRO approved the purchase of 39 cars from CAF upon receipt of a new proposal from CAF that is compliant with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Buy America guidelines.