“We are always looking for ways to help our customers further improve site safety,” President and CEO David Wilkerson says. “Our industrial customers operate across complex sites with crossing traffic of both people and vehicles. Better visibility definitely helps the engineer become a safer operator.”
The Hi-Vis cab is a new design that was undertaken specifically to improve safety of operation in industrial sites. Typical switcher locomotives have adequate visibility but are challenged by older window technology and the blind spots of larger hood structures. The cab design has minimal structural interference and nearly 30 percent more total window area than a comparable switcher cab.
With a low profile hood design enabled by modern genset power, the cab sits higher over the hood, enabling longer windows and further enhancing visibility. The operator and other crew members have unobstructed views of all walkways to ensure the safety of others entering or exiting the unit.
The larger cab interior space accommodates a much wider range of operator interface layouts. The company achieved this major operational improvement while staying within all structural safety guidelines of AAR M-1003.
Trains News Wire is awaiting additional information from the company.
It's about time that train crews are able to have a full view of what is around them. Steam crews never had this, exception maybe, cab-forward.
Looks like it is related to Thomas the Tank…
How does that give you better visibility compared to working off the back side of an SW style switcher? One engineer can see both sides of the rear steps and everything in front of him. The only blind spot is the fireman's front step.
With this design, anyone riding the bottom step is still in a blind spot on the fireman's side front and rear.
Like it alot
Very Ugly locomotive.
@Stephen Carlson: exactly. Everything old is new again, at least if you wait long enough :-).
Form follows function.
European switchers have looked like this for years. It's about time Americans followed a good lead.
Aesthetics aside, unless there is AC, it is going to get hot in there. Weren't some windows eliminated on EMD and ALCo end-cab switchers because of the heat gain?
Steeple cab!
Where are its buffers?
That's just fugly. ……
Interesting concept. Still EMDs SW series has one big advantage over this kind of design. You can see a man on 3 corners of the locomotive right from the engineers seat, and still have pretty much 360 degrees of visibility.
looks like LUQUGI the fork truck from DISNEY's CARS films !!
Yes the hi-cab C415: SW-1000 and SW-1500s also in the 360 degree vista club.
Caveat: there are no transparent exhaust stacks, nor leading end of a hood nor transparent cab walls on the fireman's side…. that said cause we're blind to close-in ground sight.
Glaziers seeing that cab assuredly are gleeful.
A rehash of Alco's C415 hi-window cab.
What's old is new again.
Industrial design is obviously dead.
There are many ways to solve the problem and create an inspiring look. This is not one of them!
It looks German… Like a locomotive from Europe.
Either the reporter didn't hear correctly or the company spokesperson doesn't know what he is talking about. M-1003 is the AAR Quality Assurance Specification. It deals with quality control records and procedures. It does not contain any "structural safety guidelines".
Styling is reminiscent of the Romanian FAUR "Quarter Horse" light switcher that demonstrated in the US around 1974. It was eventually sold to Washington Terminal and scrapped in the late 80s.