Siemens plans to add a U.S. rail manufacturing facility in central New York to make bullet trains for Brightline West’s railway connecting Las Vegas to Los Angeles, calling it the country’s first such factory dedicated to producing high-speed trains.
The company said today it’s investing $60 million in the Horseheads, New York plant which is expected to employ about 300 people when it opens in 2026. It will be used to assemble American Pioneer 220 electric trains, a vehicle based on a model Siemens already builds in Europe, that’s capable of running at up to 220 miles per hour. Deliveries are likely to start in 2027.
While the diesel trains it currently makes for Brightline, Amtrak, and Canada’s Via Rail at a plant in Sacramento, California, are push-pull models, “this is a true high-speed train. It's completely powered – like all-wheel drive all the way through, from the engine to the passenger cars,” Marc Buncher, president and CEO of Siemens’s North American mobility unit, told Forbes. Additionally, “this is a full wide-body train, meaning that a wheelchair can go up and down the aisle freely.”
The new plant, Siemens's third rail production facility in the U.S., comes as the Biden Administration continues its push to get high-speed trains up and running in one of the few advanced nations that doesn’t have them. The Brightline West project, which received a $3 billion federal grant created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, marked the start of construction in April. The $12 billion project created by billionaire investor Wes Edens is to begin operating between Las Vegas and suburban Los Angeles by 2028.
Aside from the speed, the trains will also include a new feature for West Coast passengers: a dedicated “party car” with a full lounge and bar, Buncher said. Siemens will also supply the electric power system for Brightline West.
The Siemens trains will be built with a dedicated "party" car with a full lounge and bar area.
Brightline West, SiemensAlstom, a rival European manufacturer, makes trains in New York for Amtrak’s Acela line, currently the fastest passenger railway in the U.S., though that model is more similar to the version Siemens supplies to Brightline’s Florida system, which operates between Miami and Orlando at speeds of up to 125 mph, according to Buncher.
Both Siemens and Alstom are competing to win a contract to supply bullet trains to California’s High-Speed Rail Authority, which hopes to open its first segment in the early 2030s. If Siemens were to get that contract, the new New York plant could potentially make bullet trains for California as well.
“We have yet to make a decision regarding production location or submitted our proposal for California High-Speed Rail, but look forward to doing so soon,” Buncher said. “My hopes are high. I feel like we've got a great train.”
Between its Sacramento factory, a new facility that’s opening in Lexington, North Carolina, to make passenger cars, and the Horseheads factory, Siemens will have a broader capability to supply potential customers like California and other future high-speed rail lines. “We've got a little bit of flexibility about what we do, whereas in the past we never had any flexibility.”