SALT LAKE CITY – In a significant move to modernize its TRAX light rail fleet, the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has signed a contract with manufacturer Stadler US for the production of new light rail vehicles.

The agreement, valued at $120 million, calls for the delivery of 20 new vehicles, with options for an additional 60, which will be used to replace the aging fleet of Siemens SD100/160 vehicles that traverse the TRAX Blue Line. UTA will take delivery of the first vehicles beginning in September 2027.

A ceremonial signing took place on Friday, October 25 outside of the Stadler’s Salt Lake City manufacturing facility with representatives from Stadler, UTA and local leaders. The occasion also marked the official start of a large facility expansion Stadler is constructing. With the ink dry, we can now understand a bit more behind the scenes of what the procurement process looked like. During the four-month long bidding window, UTA received multiple bids, including one from Siemens and one from Stadler US.

Siemens bid their S700 light rail vehicle, an updated version of the S70 that UTA currently uses in its system. The price was $6.8 million per vehicle, with a total base contract price of $147 million. Stadler bid a modified and shortened version of their CityLink tram-train, priced at $5.5 million, with a total base contract price of $120 million.

This difference in cost is significant, as many had assumed that the effort and time required to spin up an entirely new manufacturing line at Stadler would have resulted in higher cost over the already in production Siemens vehicle, but we now know that Stadler was the more aggressively priced option. With the added advantage of substantial financial returns to the local economy, this contract stands out as the better choice on all fronts.

The next thing to look at is the design. The Siemens S700 model is nearly identical to the S70 currently in service on the Red and Green lines. Siemens base contract design offered minimal changes, but the documents reveal options such as a larger operator cab to improve safety, as well as different front mask designs.

The bid documents provided by Stadler don’t provide much detail, as they redacted a significant portion of the information, but from what detail is there we can understand a bit of what designs they had in mind for the TRAX system.

Stadler bid three different variants of the CityLink vehicle, with names inspired by local geographic landmarks: the Twin Peaks (Large), Olympus (Medium), and Ensign (Small). Of those three, two appeared on the final UTA contract, one at 111 ft long, and the other at 83 ft long. We can learn from the information that the 83 ft variant is the “Ensign”.

However, it’s a bit harder to ascertain the 111 ft variant name. The wording in the bid indicates it is most likely the medium length “Olympus” vehicle. This would be a significant change for UTA as it would be about 40% longer than the current fleet of TRAX vehicles. Olympus is clearly the one Stadler was hoping UTA would choose as the document goes to great lengths to describe the benefits of the added length, such as lower maintenance costs, increased passenger capacity, and extra space for traction batteries. In fact, the entire bid document is modeled and simulated with this design in mind. The third Twin Peaks variant could have potentially been an even longer 160 ft model that Stadler has used in other markets.

Ultimately, UTA opted for the shorter 83 ft Ensign vehicle. This being more in line with the current fleet of Siemens S70 vehicles (81 ft). 

“The [83 ft] Stadler Citylink cars closely match the size of our current cars, so they fit our current infrastructure which reduces the overall costs by avoiding the need to refit service bays, boarding platforms, and other infrastructure adjustments.” Gavin Gustafson, UTA Sr. Public Information Officer.

It should be noted that having both the short and medium length vehicles on the contract leaves the door open to a possible change before delivery. UTA also appears to be using the Olympus variant in presentations, but this may be due to not having any renderings of the shorter variant on hand.

Additional design elements are noted as: accessible low-floor design; storage for up to four bicycles per car; onboard Wi-Fi; door panel LED lighting; and an optional battery hybrid model. 

That last feature is significant as it would allow for continued service in the event of power loss, or more interestingly, new routes that can be implemented without the requirement for overhead catenary. The battery option seems to have been a requirement from UTA in the request for proposal, indicating a strong possibility of hybrids coming in the future.

There is also information on how the 3 year delivery deadline is going to be achieved. Stadler describes their manufacturing capability as follows, “Stadler has production capacity for UTA to meet stated schedules and will prioritize the UTA build as the sole focus of our US LRV program.“ 

Large components such as the car shells and truck frames will be manufactured in Valencia, Spain. Structural testing will occur in Germany, and climate testing will occur in either Florida or New York. All mechanical, electrical and other final assembly items will take place in Utah.

A facility expansion currently underway at the site could allow for more parts of future CityLink vehicles to be made in Utah, but there are currently no plans for steel welding capability which would be required for making the light rail car shells here locally.

This first contract begins what is hopefully a good relationship between UTA, UDOT, and Stadler. The company has already proposed other interesting ideas in Utah such as a cog rail line up to ski resorts, and they will likely try and bid vehicles on the FrontRunner double tracking project. Stadler US has emerged as a formidable force in the American rail manufacturing landscape, from right here in Salt Lake City’s own backyard.