The SD-400 and SD-460 are light rail vehicles (LRV) that were manufactured by

Siemens Mobility Siemens Mobility GmbH is a separately-managed company of Siemens, arising from a corporate restructuring effective 1 August 2018. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens Mobility has four core business units: Mobility Management, dedi ...

between 1985 and 2005 for the North and South American markets. The SD-400 was built under Siemens' joint venture with

DÜWAG Düwag or Duewag, formerly Waggonfabrik Uerdingen, was a German manufacturer of Rail transport, rail vehicles. It was sold in 1999 to Siemens Mobility, Siemens with the brand later retired. History Duewag was founded in March 1898 as Waggo ...

and assembled at both DÜWAG's factory in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

after

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governm ...

in 1990) and the Siemens factory in

Florin, California Florin is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento– Roseville–Folsom Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 52,388 at the 2020 census, up from 47,513 at th ...

. Siemens purchased DÜWAG in 1999 and the SD-460 was assembled entirely at the Siemens factory in California. The primary difference between the models is that the older SD-400 uses

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...

motors An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

, while the newer SD-460 uses alternating current motors. Both models were built with a "high-floor" design and equipped with three doors on each side for level boarding at high-platform stations and one door with steps for boarding at street-level. The SD-400 was manufactured and marketed alongside the older

Siemens–Duewag U2 The Siemens–Duewag U2 is a type of light rail vehicle (LRV), built by consortium of Siemens, Duewag and Wegmann & Co built between 1968 and 1990. The design was based on the prototype U1 tram built in 1965 for the Frankfurt U-Bahn. The U2 was a ...

LRV and the SD-460 was manufactured and marketed alongside the

Siemens SD-100 and SD-160 The SD-100 and SD-160 are light rail vehicles (LRV) that were manufactured by Siemens Mobility between 1992 and 2013 for the North American market. The vehicles were all constructed at the Siemens facility in Florin, California. The primary di ...

LRV. The U2, SD-100, and SD-160 all offered either level boarding at high-platform stations or steps for passenger loading at street level. This model has been replaced by the

Siemens S70 The Siemens S70, its successor the S700 and European variant, the Avanto, are a series of low-floor light-rail vehicles (LRV) and streetcars manufactured by Siemens Mobility, a division of German conglomerate Siemens AG. The S70 and S700 are ...

, a low-floor LRV for passenger loading at street level and the

Siemens S200 The Siemens S200 is a high-floor light rail vehicle (LRV) manufactured by Siemens Mobility in Florin, California. The S200 succeeds the SD-100, SD-160, SD-400 and SD-460 as the high-floor light rail vehicle for the North American market and is ...

, a high-floor LRV for level boarding at high-platform stations.

Technical details

Both models have a common design, with frames built upon a B-2-B

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

configuration mounted underneath a double-ended

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were someti ...

body, which has a seating capacity for 72 people and room for an additional 106 standing passengers. There are four high-level, double inward-opening "blinker" doors on each side of the vehicle for

level boarding Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleratio ...

, along with an additional low-level, single right-hand side doorway and steps at each end of the vehicle for low-level boarding. The dual-height door design was necessary on the

Pittsburgh Light Rail The Pittsburgh Light Rail (commonly known as The T) is a light rail system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and surrounding suburbs. It operates as a deep-level subway in Downtown Pittsburgh, but runs mostly at-grade in the suburbs south of the ci ...

system, which has both high-platform stations and traditional street-level streetcar stops. The Pittsburgh cars also have only three sets of doors per side as opposed to four on the others, omitting the left side doors immediately ahead of the articulation joint in the direction of travel. The other operators of the SD-400 and SD-460 do not use the street-level doors in regular service. Both the SD-400 and SD-460 are powered by four individual Siemens

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (ele ...

s with each one developing 200

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

(149 kW) and creating a combined total power output of 800 horsepower (597 kW). The older SD-400 uses

(DC) motors, while the newer SD-460 uses

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

(AC) motors. The SD-460 also uses updated electronic equipment with

insulated-gate bipolar transistor An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily used as an electronic switch, which, as it was developed, came to combine high efficiency and fast switching. It consists of four alternating lay ...

s (IGBT) compared to the SD-400. On both types, electric current is received via an overhead catenary wire, which supplies 750

volts The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Definit ...

into the motors. More than 80 SD-400 units were produced between 1985 and 1993, with all being manufactured at Siemens' primary manufacturing plant at its home base in Germany, while nearly 70 SD-460 units have been produced since 1999, with all being manufactured at Siemens' secondary manufacturing plant at their American base in California as opposed to Germany. The SD-400 is used by

Pittsburgh Regional Transit Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT, formerly Port Authority of Allegheny County) is the second-largest public transit agency in Pennsylvania and the 20th-largest in the United States. The state-funded agency is based in Pittsburgh and is overseen ...

for the

in Pennsylvania, while the SD-460 is used for the Valencia Metro in Venezuela. Both types are also used on the

St. Louis MetroLink MetroLink is the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan mass transit system serving Missouri and the Metro East area of Illinois. The system consists of two rail lines (Red Line and Blue Line) connecting St. Louis Lambert International Airport and ...

operated by Bi-State Transit in Missouri.

Operators

References

External links

North American Light Rail Information
{{USLightRail Port Authority of Allegheny County MetroLink (St. Louis) Streetcars of the United States Siemens tram vehicles 750 V DC multiple units Articulated passenger trains Train-related introductions in 1985 Train-related introductions in 1999 Light rail vehicles Electric multiple units of the United States Siemens multiple units Rolling stock of Venezuela

Technical details

Operators

See also

References

External links