News broke this week out of St. Louis that has transit advocates shaking their heads: The region’s new order of Siemens S200 light rail vehicles doesn’t fit in their tunnels.

According to an investigation by First Alert 4, a "measuring mistake" by engineers failed to account for the necessary electrical safety buffer between the train’s roof and the ceilings of St. Louis's historic tunnels. As a result, the HVAC units on top of the trains—currently being manufactured in Europe—must be redesigned and rebuilt at a cost of $1.4 million to taxpayers.

Naturally, when "Siemens S200" and "design errors" hit the headlines, GCRTA riders get nervous. Since Cleveland is waiting on its own fleet of Siemens S200s, two big questions have popped up in our inbox:

1. Could GCRTA make the same mistake?

2. If St. Louis’s trains are "wrong," can Cleveland buy them for cheap?

Here is the reality check.

The St. Louis Error: A Game of Millimeters

The issue in St. Louis is specifically about vertical clearance. Their MetroLink system utilizes tunnels that are, in some sections, over 150 years old.

Electric trains require a "safety air gap" between the high-voltage equipment on the roof and the tunnel ceiling to prevent electrical arcing (basically, man-made lightning jumping from the train to the tunnel). The engineers in St. Louis miscalculated this tolerance by less than 40 millimeters (about 1.5 inches).

While it sounds small, in the world of high-voltage rail, that gap is the difference between safe operation and a tunnel fire. The fix involves redesigning the HVAC housing to be shorter, ensuring the trains can pass safely.

Why Cleveland Can’t "Rescue" These Trains

A common question we're hearing is: "If St. Louis messed up the order, can Cleveland just buy these 'tall' trains and use them here?"

The answer is no, for three critical reasons. Even if St. Louis wanted to sell them (which they don't—they are paying to fix them), they would be useless on Cleveland tracks.

1. The Voltage Mismatch (The Dealbreaker)

St. Louis operates on a rare 860V DC power system, designed for their long-distance runs into the Illinois suburbs. Cleveland’s RTA operates on a standard/legacy 600V DC system. If you put a St. Louis train on Cleveland tracks, the train would effectively "starve." The onboard computers would detect the lower voltage as a system failure and refuse to move. Converting them would cost millions per car.

2. The Door Problem

This is the most visible difference.

• St. Louis ordered "High Floor" cars. They have no steps; passengers must board from a raised platform.

• Cleveland ordered "Hybrid" cars. Our S200s will feature custom trap doors and mechanical steps that allow boarding from both high platforms (Red Line) and street level (Blue/Green Lines). The St. Louis trains are physically incapable of picking up passengers at Shaker Square, Van Aken, or the Waterfront Line.

3. Our Own Tunnel Troubles

Ironically, Cleveland has its own clearance challenges. The entrance to Tower City and the dedicated right-of-way through the terminal has notoriously narrow clearances. GCRTA’s engineering team has spent years working with Siemens to ensure our specific S200 variant fits our unique "dynamic envelope." A train built for St. Louis tunnels (even before the mistake) likely wouldn't fit Cleveland's tight curves and ceilings anyway.

The Takeaway for Ohio

The "measuring mistake" in St. Louis is a frustrating error that transportation experts called "Engineering 101." It serves as a reminder that Light Rail Vehicles are not off-the-shelf products like buses; they are custom-engineered machines that must be perfectly matched to the infrastructure they serve.

For Cleveland, the news is a relief in disguise: our rapid program is proceeding with a vehicle designed strictly for our rails, our voltage, and our platforms. While St. Louis scrambles to shave 40 millimeters off their HVAC units, Cleveland’s custom fleet is still on track to serve us right.