SAN DIEGO — Metropolitan Transit System is donating up to 39 second-generation light rail vehicles to Mendoza, Argentina, as it makes way for a new order of trolleys. The Siemens SD100 vehicles, which began entering service in 1995, will become part of the Metrotranvia Mendoza light rail fleet.
“As MTS modernizes its Trolley fleet, we are very glad to see our older models continue to be put to use, serving the people of Mendoza to carry residents to work, school and other activities, just like they’ve been doing in San Diego for almost 30 years,” MTS CEO Sharon Cooney said in a press release. “I’d like to personally thank our friends from the City of Mendoza for this partnership. It’s great to see light rail flourish in other parts of the world the way it has in San Diego, while also keeping these vehicles from the ‘scrap’ heap or landfill.”
It is the second time MTS has sent older equipment to Mendoza; 24 first-generation light rail vehicles were sold to the Argentine city in 2012.
The trainsets are dismantled, encased in plastic and transported by truck to Long Beach, Calif., by ship to Antofagasta, Chile, and then by truck through the Andes to Mendoza.
Nice to see reuse as opposed to scrapping .