Siemens Mobility, the USA’s largest passenger rolling stock manufacturer, is to expand its manufacturing footprint by building a $220 million advanced manufacturing and rail services facility in Lexington, North Carolina. The facility will create more than 500 new jobs and be one of the city’s largest employers.
The company says that with the increased production capacity, it will fulfil the growing demand for passenger rail in America by producing some of the most innovative and sustainable passenger trains in the North American market.
Roland Busch,
Siemens AG’s CEO, said: “America is investing in rail – and we are investing in America. Siemens has invested $3 billion in manufacturing expansions and M&A activities (mergers and acquisitions) in the USA over the past four years alone, including nearly $400 million to grow its US manufacturing footprint and over $2.5 billion in strategic US acquisitions. This latest facility will build rail technology to help transform ‘the everyday’ for millions of passengers around the country, particularly as the country sees a resurgence in public transit and intercity travel.”
Michael Peter, Siemens Mobility’s CEO, added: “For more than 30 years, we have seen the US market continue to grow as we have manufactured over 3,000 locomotives, passenger coaches and light rail vehicles in the USA in partnership with our 2,000 American suppliers, including more than 40 in North Carolina. We now look forward to expanding in North Carolina and on the East Coast and to continuing delivering sustainable rail in the USA. We are delighted to be in Lexington, which will work side-by-side with our long-established Sacramento factory in serving the increasing needs of the US rail industry from coast-to-coast.”
The passenger-coach-manufacturing factory, as well as a first-of-its-kind locomotive and passenger coach overhauls facility, will be on a 200-acre site that will allow for future facility expansion. When it starts operations in 2024, it will incorporate some of the latest technologies found in the company’s Sacramento facility, including robotic welding, 3-D printing, and virtual-reality welder training.
Siemens Mobility has eight manufacturing facilities, 4,000 employees and more than 2,000 suppliers throughout the USA, where it has been manufacturing for more than 40 years; Lexington, NC, will be its ninth manufacturing site.