The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) has exercised an option to order an additional 18 new Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) from Siemens Mobility to replace their aging fleet of trains, according to GCRTA and Siemens on March 3. This adds to previous orders, allowing GCRTA to, at minimum, provide a base-level of service on all three of its rail transit lines by 2028.
This latest order of S200 LRVs will allow GCRTA to replace 45-year-old trains running on the Blue and Green lines linking Downtown Cleveland’s waterfront with Shaker Heights. That follows a pair of orders totaling 30 S200 rail cars to replace 40-year-old heavy-rail trains on the Airport-Tower City-Windermere Red Line.
Once infrastructure modifications to stations are completed, the heavy-rail Red Line will be reopened after a brief-shutdown in summer 2027 as a light-rail line. The new trains will appear about a year later on the Blue and Green lines.
“Siemens Mobility is thrilled to continue our partnership with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority and further connection for communities in the great City of Cleveland,” said Marc Buncher, president and CEO, Siemens Mobility North America, in a written statement.
Building on GCRTA’s initial purchase in 2023 for 24 S200 LRVs and their exercise of the first option for an additional 6 cars in 2024 to replace their current fleet, this new order of 18 vehicles increases GCRTA’s total number of Siemens Mobility LRVs in Cleveland to 48.
“These American-made light rail vehicles offer a modern, sustainable transportation solution to keep riders connected and on their way,” he added.
LRVs from the initial orders began production in October 2024 at Siemens Mobility’s rail manufacturing facility in Sacramento, CA. The first new trains will be delivered to Cleveland in 2026, allowing for vehicle testing plus operating and maintenance training to begin.
“Our team is elated to be one step closer to achieving a complete replacement of our rail fleet, after decades of dependable service within Greater Cleveland,” said GCRTA General Manager and Chief Executive Officer India Birdsong Terry.
Red Line station platforms need to be widened and maintenance facilities must to be modified so GCRTA’s dual heavy- and light-rail system rail fleet can be standardized as a fully interoperable, 33-mile light-rail system.
“Knowing that we are embarking upon a significantly enhanced customer experience for future generations of GCRTA ridership is both exciting and transformative — a rare, once in a lifetime moment that I look forward to celebrating alongside our customers very soon,” she noted.
Total budget for the railcar replacement program, including infrastructure, is estimated at $393 million with more than $355 million available. GCRTA continues to secure the remaining funds to exercise all options in the Siemens contract to acquire a total of 60 rail cars. The addition of 12 more rail cars will allow GCRTA to have a reserve for maintenance cycling, to handle crush crowds for special events.
They could also allow GCRTA to operate new services, such as cross-town trains linking Shaker Heights with Hopkins International Airport, or between Windermere and Downtown’s waterfront without having to transfer between trains at Tower City Center Downtown.
While newer than the light-rail trains on the Blue-Green lines, GCRTA says the Red Line trains were decaying faster and needed to be replaced first. The Red Line is also GCRTA’s busiest rail line — in fact it’s the busiest transit line in the state of Ohio, affording to the Federal Transit Administration’s National Transit Database.
GCRTA has been investing heavily to modernize the rail infrastructure on the Blue and Green lines, especially on the shared portion, or trunk line west of Shaker Square to where it joins the Red Line near East 55th Street station along the Opportunity Corridor.
East of Shaker Square, the Blue and Green light-rail lines split and operate in the medians of Shaker Boulevard and Van Aken Boulevard. GCRTA will also be upgrading stations along the Blue and Green lines with new platforms, shelters and passenger information systems.
Furthermore, GCRTA is welcoming new development to near it stations. Called Transit Oriented Development, many rail stations have seen new walkable developments built, get underway or be planned within a short walk of them. Other stations languish with empty parking lots and/or lack basic services near them.
At more than 40 years of age, GCRTA’s trains are the oldest in the country and exceed the design life of typical transit passenger rail cars. The new high-floor vehicles feature two door heights for high- and low-level station platform accessibility, allowing the trains to serve high-level Red Line platforms plus the low-level Blue and Green Line platforms.
GCRTA says the S200 LRVs offer the highest standards of passenger experience. They have a modern design with 52 easy-to-clean seats for the highest level of sanitation, additional standing room, four wheelchair areas for enhanced accessibility, two bicycle racks, and an advanced infotainment system.
In addition, the vehicles are built to withstand the coldest Cleveland winter weather, with ice cutting technology and a modern operator cab area with a dedicated heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit, heated windshield, and enhanced visibility.
GCRTA is one of more than 35 transit agencies across North America benefiting from Siemens Mobility’s portfolio of rail vehicles, locomotives, components and automation systems. The new rail cars are modeled after a fleet currently used by Calgary Transit, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. NEOtrans was first to report that GCRTA would be ordering the new Siemens trains.
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