LEXINGTON, N.C. — Siemens Mobility broke ground Wednesday, Aug. 23, on its new Lexington, N.C., plant, which aims to begin production in 2024 and expects to employ more than 500 people by 2028.
The new facility, on a 200-acre site with room for expansion, will produce passenger cars as well as offering locomotive and passenger car overhaul facilities. It will include technologies such as robotic welding, 3D printing and virtual reality welder training. Siemens says the facility will be carbon neutral when fully operation, helping the company meet its sustainability objectives.
“Our new east coast hometown will soon be a powerhouse when it comes to rail manufacturing,” Michael Cahill, president rolling stock, Siemens Mobility North America, said in a press release. “Complementing our operations in Sacramento, our bicoastal facilities will work together to manufacture the latest rail technology and transform the everyday for communities across the country.” Said Michael Tyler, the company’s president, customer service, “I am excited to expand our customer service operations to Lexington and for the opportunity to better serve our east coast customers. At this facility we won’t only build and service trains, we will push the boundaries of innovation while combining the real and digital worlds.”
Siemens is receiving a Job Development Investment Grant from the state of North Carolina as part of choice of the North Carolina site, announced in March [see “Siemens to build $220 million railcar factory …,” Trains News Wire, March 7, 2023]. Over the 12-year term of the grant, the facility is estimated to add $1.6 billion to the state’s economy.
Their equipment won’t last long maybe a decade? Compared to the Amfleet & Superlnrs or even the Horizon cars & most likely won’t have any reuse value either.
Do you have any evidence to support your claim? Siemens equipment is functioning well around the world.
The resurgence in the market for intercity passenger cars comes too late for the American legacy builders of railway equipment Pullman-Standard, ACF, St Louis Car Works, and Budd.
Nonetheless, Siemens Mobility fills their void well with advanced designs and excellent styling of passenger cars and locomotives. The expansion into North Carolina reflects Siemens Mobility’s confidence in receiving future commissions for construction and maintenance of railway cars.
Shocker! Another European investment in a right-to-work-for-less state. Anything to keep workers marginalized.
The good news is that at most businesses, the employees are more highly thought of than the customers….
As the United States’ largest passenger rolling stock manufacturer, Siemens Mobility is an innovative company that is working to transform the future of rail in America.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Siemens Mobility is playing big in the United States and it shows.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
They show passenger cars at the top of the rendering and a rail connection curving off the the campus to the middle right of the rendering. Zoom in to see it.
Wonderful opportunity. Not to nit-pick, but in the rendering, where is the rail connection to the plant assembly area for the finished rail equipment? And how and where will the new units be tested prior to delivery? Congrats to NS for doing what it takes to secure this business.
Two possibilities Michael, I have seen rail equipment facilities where the rail equipment was moved on special mult-wheeled rubber tire movers on thick reinforced payment. Makes handling quicker, (no having to move two pieces of equipment to get to the one you want), and no maintaining of switches and track.
The other possibility is that the long grey area actually represents a transfer table but the artist left that out because of the complexity of the detail.