Orders Production of the SD-100 was launched in 1992 when the
Regional Transportation District, located in
Denver, Colorado placed an order for 49 vehicles. The physical design was derived from the
U2A car that was built between 1985 and 1991, but built with more modern mechanical equipment. The first vehicles rolled off the production line at the Siemens facility in
Florin, California in 1994, in time for the start of Light Rail service in Denver. #2006, an early SD-100 unit, at
Santee in 2009 In 1993, the
San Diego Metropolitan Transit System ordered 52 SD-100 cars as the
San Diego Trolley system was expanded with a new line, these entered service in 1995. In Early 2021, they were being phased out and in 2023 have been retired from service being replaced by the newer
Siemens S700 models. The final order for the SD-100 came in 1996, when the
Utah Transit Authority, located in
Salt Lake City placed an order for 23 vehicles that were delivered before the start of the
TRAX light rail service in 1999. In 2001, Siemens launched the SD-160 light rail vehicle, which used
alternating current motors instead of
direct current motors and outward sliding doors.
Calgary Transit ordered 72 vehicles for its
CTrain service, while the Utah Transit Authority ordered 17 vehicles as it expanded the TRAX light rail service. Deliveries to both agencies started in 2003. The physical design of the SD-160 was updated in 2005 with a new end cap that changed the look of the front/rear of the train. The
Edmonton Transit Service ordered 57 of the redesigned SD-160 vehicles and Calgary Transit ordered 38.
Service history Starting in late 2017,
Calgary has been sending SD-160s to Siemens' facility in Florin for mid-life refurbishment. The refurbished units contain several components and electronics already present on the
S200, the successor to the SD-160. Along with some electronic improvements, they have been upgraded to be compatible with Calgary's newer SD-160s, which were previously incompatible due to software differences. The refurbished fleet will eventually start to run with the newer units once the software has been adjusted to allow seamless operation. Since 2022, 39 retired San Diego SD-100s were transferred to
Metrotranvía Mendoza to supplement its existing fleet of
Siemens–Duewag U2 which had also been purchased from San Diego. Currently, the Metropolitan Transportation System (MTS) of San Diego, California is in the process of donating its Siemens SD100 pairs to the Mendoza Transportation Society, which has an urban metro-tram service that connects four departments (Las Heras, Ciudad, Godoy Cruz and Maipú) of the Province of Mendoza, Argentine Republic. The donation consists of 39 pairs of the mentioned model, until June 2023 9 of the total pairs that are operating and providing regular service in Mendoza, Argentina have arrived, while for the remaining 30 MTS is expected to withdraw them from their service between this year and the next in order to coordinate the shipping logistics of these pairs between the two cities. The arrival of these formations is important for Mendoza since it is carrying out works to double the route of its metro-tram service (it is estimated that they will end in 2026 or 2027), the arrival at the Mendoza International Airport and the department of Luján de Cuyo stands out. In addition, due to its speed compared to other means of transport, it is increasingly chosen and presents a greater demand for people, which is why it is also planned to join two pairs to increase passenger capacity. ==Technical details==