Oceanside, Calif.’s North County Transit District (NCTD) board of directors approved the purchase of five new Siemens locomotives. The five locomotives being replaced were originally built between 1975 and 1992 and have reached the end of their useful life.

The new locomotives will allow NCTD to improve operational efficiency while contributing to local and state sustainability and air quality goals, with an estimated 90% reduction in emissions (compared to the existing engines) and 16% reduction in fuel consumption.

Siemens provides rail vehicles, locomotives, components, and systems to more than 25 agencies in cities such as Washington D.C., New York, San Francisco, Portland, and Sacramento. In addition, Siemens provides traction-power substations and electricity transmission, as well as signaling and control technology for freight and passenger rail systems.

Approval from the board enables NCTD to purchase the diesel-electric Siemens Charger locomotives as part of a multi-state procurement with the California and Illinois Departments of Transportation. This joint agreement saves money for the district due to lowered procurement costs. Additionally, the size of the procurement aids in the future acquisition of needed parts for continued operations as the same type of vehicle has already been purchased in multiple states.

The purchase of new COASTER locomotives — priced collectively at over $37 million — has been made possible by State of California funding provided by new revenues generated from Senate Bill 1 (SB1): The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 and $10 million of Carl Moyer grant funds provided from the Air Pollution Control District. Once the locomotives are received, NCTD is slated to add 36 additional COASTER trips each week to the current schedule — six on each weekday, three on Saturday, and three on Sunday.

NCTD anticipates delivery of the first vehicle in March of 2021 and the last vehicle in June of 2021. It is estimated that vehicles will be put in-service three to six months after the delivery of each vehicle.