Siemens hosted San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) for a behind-the-scenes look at the first of 215 California-built light rail vehicles currently under production at the Siemens rail manufacturing hub in Sacramento, Calif. The first SFMTA advanced technology S200 high-floor LRV is expected to arrive in San Francisco in December and will enter into final testing and commissioning prior to revenue service, scheduled for 2018.
I question the “especially energy efficient” comment as regenerative braking has been in use on LRV’s for several decades now. The limiting factor to the benefits of regenerative braking is whether the power supply can make use of the regenated energy, be it used to power another LRV, returned to the AC grid or stored.
The phrase “LED lighting that uses up to 40 % less electricity than standard neon lighting” doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, there may have been confusion between “neon” and “fluorescent” lighting.
Muni also has a fairly sizable network of trolley bus routes so the energy generated by regenerative braking could be used without too much of a restriction from the power source.