With only about 1% of railroad lines in the United States equipped with overhead wires, engineers at Salt Lake City’s Stadler train manufacturing facility face a complex challenge in designing cleaner vehicles for North American passenger rail lines.
Their goal is to develop an electric battery-powered train, complete with suitable charging stations, that can operate in the U.S. market.
Stadler US CEO Martin Ritter stated that unlike Utah’s TRAX system, which depends on overhead catenary wires, many U.S. passenger rail lines run on tracks owned by freight companies, making wiring unfeasible.
This situation creates an engineering conundrum: how can Stadler design cleaner trains without overhead cabling?
“If we still want to have an electric train,” Ritter mentioned, “we could do that with a battery train.”
The Swiss company’s west-side facility is currently building electric subway trains for Atlanta’s MARTA system and double-decker vehicles powered by overhead wires for Northern California’s Caltrain route.
Most of Stadler’s existing orders are for “alternative propulsion” trains—vehicles that do not rely on fossil fuels for operation.
To expedite the fulfillment of these contracts, Stadler is expanding its factory located just south of Interstate 80, near Salt Lake City’s western edge.
This expansion will include the construction of a train battery-charging station adjacent to its on-site kilometer-long test track.
Stadler is engaged in two distinct electric battery-powered train projects: a collaborative effort with Utah State University on a single demonstration train, and an order for eight trains from Metra, the Chicago-area commuter rail system.
The west-side facility is set to begin manufacturing the Metra trains later this year.
Notably, while there are some electric battery-powered trains currently in operation in Europe, the Metra vehicles would represent the first implementations of this technology in North America.
Ritter highlighted that establishing a charging station on-site is crucial for testing the trains’ capabilities and showcasing their performance to potential buyers.
However, individual transit agencies will not fully understand the range of these new trains and their charging requirements until they begin operational use on local routes.
Factors such as weather, route slope, and ridership levels could influence how far an electric train, similar to an electric car, can travel on any given day.
Charlotte Thalhammer, a Stadler US spokesperson, noted, “The kind of charging stations the end customer will be using will determine how fast it charges,” adding that various factors will dictate the charging needs of the trains.
Ritter also stated that the company is exploring options for a charging system that accommodates passenger trains running on freight company-owned lines without disrupting freight locomotives.
He expressed interest in building battery-powered trains for companies such as Union Pacific in the future.
The battery-charging station is only one element of the expansion aimed at doubling the manufacturing capacity of the Stadler plant, located at 5880 W 150 South.
Alongside the battery-charging facility, Stadler is augmenting its welding and sandblasting capabilities, enabling the company to produce railcar bodies in Utah instead of relying on shipments from European factories.
The expansion also includes the construction of another assembly hall and the enlargement of a displacement hall where cars are transferred between manufacturing stages.
Stadler officials anticipate that this expansion will enhance the company’s efficiency, allowing it to fulfill orders from various American transit systems, including TRAX, in the years ahead.
“One West Construction project manager Spencer Johnson, who is managing the expansion, shared, “There’s been an extremely large amount of collaboration, with architects, engineers and the construction team, to potentially put together their perfect building,” which is modeled after existing facilities in Europe.
The Utah Inland Port Authority has awarded a tax incentive to Stadler for the expansion, committing to return 10% of the company’s property tax annually for up to 25 years upon completion.
Additionally, company officials plan to hire an extra 300 employees at the plant over the next three years.
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