A pair of the existing St Louis MetroLink Siemens-built LRVs, which will be replaced, is seen in the latest corporate livery seen near the St Louis Amtrak station on June 10, 2022.
KEITH FENDER
SEVERAL cities in the USA started building light rail systems in the 1980s and 1990s, often in places that previously had tram networks which had been removed in the 1930s-50s. As a result, many of these cities now need to replace their original light rail fleets.
In recent months an order from St Louis operator Metro Transit for up to 55 new high floor Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) has been placed with Siemens. The St Louis‘MetroRail’light rail system opened in stages between 1993 and 2006 and now stretches to 74km in length. Reopened with light rail tracks on the former mainline rail deck in 2003, the route includes crossing the river Mississippi on the oldest bridge over that river –the Eads Bridge which celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2024.