New passenger rail equipment coming to the Midwest!

On December 19, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced that the department has issued a Notice of Intent to Award to Siemens USA to design, build and deliver 35 high-performance diesel-electric locomotives on behalf of the departments of transportation from Illinois, California, Michigan, Missouri and Washington. A contract still must be awarded before the purchase can proceed.

This follows the November 2012 award to Sumitomo/Nippon-Sharyo to build 130 next-generation bi-level rail cars for the Midwest and California (California led that procurement). Those cars are being built at Nippon-Sharyo's production facility in Rochelle, Illinois.

Both of these purchases are being made possible through grants to the states from the federal High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program. These new (next generation) railcars and locomotives will meet standards developed by the PRIIA Section 305 Next Generation Equipment Committee.

Find out more here.