WASHINGTON — Amtrak officials say they’re looking to replace or upgrade as many as 75 locomotives and have deals in place this year.
Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson says the passenger railroad issued a request for proposals June 1 with an eye to having the latest safety features and the lowest emissions possible.
“Our diesel locomotive fleet is nearing the end of life expectancy and we must act now to modernize Amtrak for the future,” Anderson says in a news release. “We expect that any new, state-of-the art locomotive will offer improved reliability, a smoother ride, improved safety features and make major contributions towards lowering emissions and we’ll also consider how rebuilding options of the current fleet could achieve these goals.”
The request for proposals for “railway and tramway cars” is available on the Amtrak website.
And to help pay for those 75 locomotives and to “enhance” our onboard experience, Ol’ Slash and Burn Anderson will remove all food service except hardtack and sea water.
To quote Neil Young “Rust Never Sleeps”. On my last trip to Chicago I was amazed at how beat up the P42’s look – rust seems to be attacking with great vigor especially along the cab windows. And while they looked road weary, kudos to the Amtrak technicians who keep them pulling every day and every night!
As Amtrak put out proposals for 75 or so new locomotives while at the same time rebuild as many of existing locomotives when they believe the GE P42 was rebuilt so many times it would be worth to toss the fleet and get something newer when those believe Amtrak could take NS’s route for the rebuild of some of the existing P42’s while the prime mover would be tossed in favor of the GEVO as the main generator and traction motors likely be wound to A/C specifications as the D/C to A/C conversion could apply to the rebuild program like it applies to the rebuild programs at NS.
How about some new E-units! (-: (-: (-:
The F-125s were (are?) prone to breakdowns. Including one where a locomotive was supposed to make a splashy debut and broke down on the way to the event. Super embarrassing for Metrolink and really embarrassing for the politicians involved.
This article is from Nov. 2017:
https://signalscv.com/2017/11/metrolinks-tier-4-locomotive-unveiling-stopped-in-its-tracks/
Im agree with the suggestion that they either: exercise the option for the 150 LD-configured Siemens Chargers and replace most of the fleet in 1 fallow swoop OR honestly they could just ask GE to re-engine the P42s with GEVO engines and new AC traction motors in much the same fashion as the NS DC-to-AC program. That would work too.
I haven’t seen an F125, not even in a photo. As for the Siemens, I spent so much time admiring its good looks I almost missed the train. It’s gorgeous. Doesn’t mean it is (or it isn’t) a good engine, I wouldn’t know. But it sure looks nice.
Okay, ready for a totally dumb question? I’m not familiar with the EMD model cited below. Who has it besides Metrolink?
By the way Stuart, can you say what kind of problems that the F125’s had? I am still not clear on what the problems were as some people that I have asked seemed to have different answers if you know what I mean.
Okay the sources that I have heard from about the Siemens Chargers on how engineers prefer the F125’s was a Siemens Charger SC-44 Facebook page, where 1 guy (forgot name) who seemed to have asked Amtrak Engineers who operate the Siemens Chargers, and Metrolink Engineers who operate the F125’s, he mentioned that the F125’s seem to have better cab visibility.
Also on Metrolink’s Board Meeting they say that Reliability continues to improve on their F125’s, which I knew eventually they would work very well, give them time to work out the problems. Progress Rail (EMD) may have made a bad impression on the F125’s but I am sure that they will bounce back and learn from their mistakes.
Plus the rail fans that I know including some YouTubers have said that they love the F125’s and don’t like the Siemens Chargers including me. F125’s sweet. Siemens Chargers ugly.
Plus I have slowly started to dislike Amtrak over the years because of their boring Phase 5 paint scheme and really miss the mixture of Phase 3 and Phase 4 P42’s and wanted to see the Phase 5 paint scheme go a long time ago as it has been around since I started using a camera to photograph trains. So now I think that a new Phase 3 scheme would look fantastic on an F125 so I’m sure that once the F125’s work, they will spread to other Commuter Railroads.
Unless I am mistaken both the Charger and the F125 use after treatment to meet tier 4 requirements.
This could be an issue if the new engines would be used in long distance service.
Engines that are rebuilt don’t have to qualify for tier 4.
Has Metrolink finally got their F125s running reliabily? There were a lot of problems in the beginning but they are a more powerful prime mover than the Charger.
To all:
I do think you guys make too many accusations with out being informed. The Siemens Charger has passed the 125mph test behind MARC bilevels. Unlike the F125, they were immediately accepted and placed in service by multiple operators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipu4cTNdqLo
As far as the Chargers being “cheaply built” please list your sources. The F125s came out of the factory not built to spec. Poor quality control will scare off any future potential buyer.
And you guys make it appear that engineers prefer the F125 over the Charger. Tell me what engineers have had the chance to operate both locomotives to be able to make that comparison? I am not aware of any agency that runs both models.
At least the Charger does have a very nice looking streamlined version available – see the Brightline option. I have not seen any documentation that even says EMD can add on a streamline nose cone to their unit.
The Tier 4 rules are here to stay. And there are many hoops to jump in order to rebuild at a lower emissions Tier level. It isn’t as easy as it may seem.
Charles, The only dumb question is the one that is not asked.
I think Metrolink is the only one with F125s. EMD did bid on the big order that Siemens got but lost that bid.
They protested the results claiming that the Charger could not maintain its advertised horsepower rating for a prolonged period but their engine could. The contract was still awarded to Siemens.
I got this info from various sources I have read. If anyone can update or correct any errors, please do so.
Oh boy, 75 new or rebuild locomotives, I am not sure what rebuild locomotives are out there for Amtrak or they will probably rebuild some of there existing engines like the Dash 8-32BWH units and some GE P42’s, but the P42’s I think have already been rebuilt quite a few times already and they need to be replaced.
For new engines they should pick the EMD F125’s as from what I have heard lately, the engineers don’t seem to like the Siemens Chargers as they have blind spots in the cab, and were cheaply built. The engineers seem to prefer the F125’s from what I have recently heard.
Plus I’d much rather see F125’s leading Amtrak trains in the future. Much nicer streamlined appearance than the Siemens Chargers.
75 new locomotives? Why not just exercise the option for 150 long-distance configured Charger locomotives?