Siemens East Coast factory in Lexington NC

Dr. Roland Busch, CEO of parent company Siemens AG, told reporters, “Sacramento on the West Coast is very successful and coming to its limits, so we are adding, in Lexington on the East Coast, roughly 30% of the capacity we already have, in phase one.”

Busch says 500 workers will be employed on the 200-acre site; Cooper estimates the facility will have a $1.6 billion impact for North Carolina.

He notes that the new Lexington plant will be a dual-purpose facility “that will build trains and do service on our existing fleet. This gives us the opportunity to bring in cars, locomotives, and light rail vehicles to help service our customers on the East Coast so they don’t have to transport all the way across the country — that was one of the main drivers.”