Siemens S70 and S700

The Siemens S70 and its successor, the S700, are a series of articulated low-floor light rail vehicles and modern streetcars made by Siemens Mobility, a division of the German conglomerate Siemens, for the United States market. The series also includes a European tram-train variant called the Avanto. The S70 was built from 2002 to 2017 and the improved S700 from 2014, with the S700 name introduced in 2019 and applied retroactively to certain later S70 cars, which use an adapted centre truck that allows longitudinal seating in the centre section. The first US order came in 2001 from METRORail in Houston, whose cars entered service on 1 January 2004, the opening day of that light rail system. The first Avanto order was placed in July 2002 by SNCF for the line now known as Île-de-France tramway Line 4. Its main rivals are Alstom and Kinki Sharyo.