Calgary Transit has awarded Siemens Canada the contract to provide the city with 60 new light rail transit (LRT) vehicles. Siemens beat out four other companies vying for the order, including Canada’s Bombardier.

The new Siemens S200 high-floor light rail vehicles will expand the city’s fleet as well as replace a portion of the current fleet of U2 Siemens vehicles provided to the city in the early ’80s.

Siemens developed the S200 vehicle by incorporating the strengths and lessons learned from the existing Calgary fleet over the past three decades, as well as direct input from Calgary Transit riders and operators, with service-proven technological innovations from other Siemens customers throughout the world.

The new vehicles will feature: a larger, redesigned operator cab; brighter LED lighting; a larger, heated windshield; bigger, triple-paned side windows, which offer more insulation and a nearly 360 degree view; and wheelchair accessibility on every door.

Maintenance has also been optimized. For example, diagnostic data will be transmitted automatically and wirelessly to wayside operations, allowing the source of any issues to be detected and resolved quickly.

The first S200 vehicle is slated to ship next year, with the full order to be completed by December 2016.

Since 1981, Calgary’s LRT system has become the busiest in North America and second busiest in the world, with an average of more than 300,000 passengers travelling the system daily, according to Siemens.