Siemens Velaro to Florida (Demo)

Siemens Velaro mockup heads for Florida
Monday, September 13, 2010

Siemens announced Monday that it is bringing a full-sized mockup of the Siemens Velaro high speed trainet to Florida to show Americans what the future may hold for them. After its Oct. 8 debut in Tampa, th eSiemens "Future of Florida High-Speed Rail Tour" will continue to Orlando, Miami, Tallahassee, and other cities.

“Visitors to the exhibit in each city will not only hav ethe chance to see the Velaro, the fastest passenger train in the world, but also the opportunity to have their questions answered by high-speed rail experts,” Siemens claimed.

etc etc.

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news ... model.html

hmmm not bad, it's good to see that we have some REAL high speed rolling stock visiting. maybe it'll generate the possibility of a modest order

Fan Railer wrote:hmmm not bad, it's good to see that we have some REAL high speed rolling stock visiting. maybe it'll generate the possibility of a modest order

A real mockup ... but yes - seeing a full size model is better than trying to imagine what it will look like and, if they like it, it is more likely to inspire people to buy what they have seen instead of what they can only imagine from other vendors.

Trains Newswire article (subscription may be required): Trains

“Our trains are fast, they’re green. Today we have sold about 200 trainsets of the Velaro; and each train is about eight cars.” He said they recently set the world speed record at 251 mph.

The display opened at Tampa’s Museum of Science & Industry. The “Future of Florida High-Speed Rail Tour” is continuing on to other Florida cities, including Orlando, Miami and Tallahassee. As of the date of this writing, no specific dates had been set.

"We want to give Floridians a taste of what a true high-speed rail train looks and feels like," added Oliver Hauck, president of Siemens Mobility in the U.S.

He said route construction will begin in 2011 and the first train, from Tampa to Orlando, should operate in 2015.

Spiegel said the company has no contract yet with the Florida DOT, but they are hopeful. They expect to eventually sell 20 trainsets to the state.

I hope that Siemens gets the contract! The Velaro is an awesome train (I've ridden aboard the ICE 3 in Germany, and it's my favorite high speed train). And I feel like Siemens deserves to be rewarded for taking the lead and making this effort!

Matt Johnson wrote:I hope that Siemens gets the contract! The Velaro is an awesome train (I've ridden aboard the ICE 3 in Germany, and it's my favorite high speed train). And I feel like Siemens deserves to be rewarded for taking the lead and making this effort!

Hopefully they'll be rewarded. If this one gets handed over to Bombardier, like Acela, they might just write the US market off look at ABB's repeated attempts and where it lead them...