First New RTA Railcar Arrives in Cleveland

Covered in white plastic wrap, RTA’s first new railcar made its way into Cleveland this past weekend.

The first of 54 Siemens S200 train cars is now officially here, seven years after the transit agency announced a whopping effort to finally replace Cleveland’s outdated train stock, which rank among the oldest in the country.

The car itself, designed for light rail, has 52 easy-to-clean seats, four wheelchair areas, two bike racks and an “advanced infotainment system.”

Confirmation signaling good news (although three years behind) for an agency that’s under some serious financial straits. A new round of budget cuts went into play this month, which led to the pause of two major bus lines—the 15 and the 41—and the beloved and last remaining downtown trolley.

“This arrival is more than just new equipment; it’s a promise kept to our riders,” RTA CEO India Birdsong Terry wrote in a statement.

These new cars will spur ridership and development along RTA lines, she added, which are “catalytic for the health and economics of Greater Cleveland.”

The new tech will save the agency some $7 million a year in maintenance costs thanks to ice-cutting tech and a state-of-the-art HVAC system.

The RTA’s first of 54 new railcars in the Flats on Monday. Though about three years behind, the new car could spur ridership and new development despite the agency’s current financial straits.

Anxiety runs high amongst the RTA’s board and its leadership as it prepares, come May, to ask county voters for a sales tax increase in exhange to fully fund its transit system and restore its potential (and those downsized routes). If not, more cuts would decimate an already shaky system.

This weekend’s shipment represents something more than just a tech update: a symbol of RTA’s future, one where Cleveland not only has fancy train cars but a transit system worthy of a 21st century city.

RTA has just $13 million of money left to find to fully fund the $435 million price tag for those 54 cars. A price that includes the cars’ design, spare parts, upgrades to its maintenance facilities, changes to its platforms (to match the cars) and necessary certification.

But the agency will likely be scrounging for dollars.

Without a levy, RTA is staring down tens of millions in more cuts over the next three years, its board heard in a June 23 meeting. The effect could be heartwrenching: Ten bus routes cut; curtailed service on 27 others and reducing the Green Line to what might be a mere novelty.

“We have long time been looked at as a social service that somehow is funded by the financial fairies that sprinkle money in our budget books,” Birdsong Terry said at a July meeting. “And that’s not the case.”

“We need public support on this,” she added. “We need leaders’ support on this.”

The new Siemens cars will hit the Red Line next summer, after about a year of testing and tinkering. The cars hit the remainder of its lines in summer 2028.