RTA Orders 24 New Rail Cars, Set to Hit Tracks in 2027

The 60 new cars, based on the Siemens S200, could contain a list of state-of-the-art features, like heated windows, WiFi and ADA accessibility. Credit: Siemens

Siemens Mobility and RTA confirmed Monday that Cleveland will finally be swapping its old, outdated rail cars with two dozen brand new ones—in four years.

The decision to contract with Siemens, one of the nation’s leaders in transit car production, comes months after RTA announced a funding plan to pay for the 24 S200s, a model with both light-rail and heavy-rail capability.

The $124 million price tag was facilitated by a $130 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration, a cultural and political mark of the Biden Administration’s attempt to revive stalled transportation infrastructure.

RTA’s current cars, which are 39 and 42 years old, are some of the oldest rail cars in the country.

The new Siemens cars “will promote increased ridership and encourage transit-oriented development along the Red Line communities from East Cleveland to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport,” Chief Executive Officer India Birdsong Terry said in a press release Monday morning.

According to the release, the new cars will have 52 seats per vehicle, with four ADA-accessible wheelchair spaces, two bike racks and an “advanced infotainment system.” To deal with the struggle of Cleveland’s winters, the Siemens cars include their own HVAC unit, along with heated windshields—features that the city’s current trains lack.

The one-size-fits-all nature of the new Siemens cars could, the RTA predicts, lead to four new routes come 2027. Credit: RTA

Claiming an annual ridership of more than 19 million, the RTA is still operating at a loss of millions of dollars per year. As discussed in a meeting on April 5th, the Siemens cars, with their modern, sleek design and their supreme universality, will be used as a chess piece to help boost RTA ridership and revenue in the years after the cars are officially installed.

Moreover, the cars, RTA said, will allow the service to essentially form four new lines, allowing passengers from the easternmost reaches of the Green Line direct access to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport off its Red Line.

If RTA’s funding model goes as planned, 36 more S200s could arrive before the end of the decade, thus rounding off the full replacement of the old fleet.

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.