Tucked into Amtrak’s locomotive consist for southbound train No. 91, the Silver Star, on Friday, Jan. 20, was Siemens ALC42 Charger No. 316, shown as the train passed through Fredericksburg, Va. Photographer Nathan Richters reports it is believed to be the first revenue trip for a Charger in Florida service.
The long-distance Chargers are gradually being integrated into the Amtrak network after launching on the Empire Builder in February 2022 [see “Amtrak to order 50 more …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 8, 2022]. The builder and operator have been working to resolve issues that led to locomotive failures in cases of extreme temperature changes [see “Siemens working with Amtrak …,” News Wire, Jan. 10, 2023].
Run them in warm weather because there record, on the Empire Builder, in cold weather , has not been so stellar.
A genuine railfan welcome to the magnificent brand-new ALC-42 under the sunny and friendly Florida skies!
Let’s recall that a team from Amtrak and Siemens Mobility developed this cleaner, faster, more efficient locomotive series for heavier and longer trains traveling thousands of miles in under single trip, spanning the U.S. from Seattle to Miami, Los Angeles to Boston.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Perhaps an inquiry with Amtrak PR about this activity would be in order. Could be the trailing unit is “dead-in tow”.
I had the same question. How is being the third loco in a lash-up being a “revenue” run. One loco could haul that train.
Could it have been a test to see if it would keep running all the way to Florida?
I am not involved in the effort, but from reading the articles and comments about the failures, it appears to be an issue with the “pass through” HEP setup. When the HEP relay fails, it can’t pass any power to anything past it in the consist.
Some people at Siemens Mobility were saying it was a potential software fix, which probably means a voltage sensor in the HEP relay box is either over sensitive to spikes or it detects an sudden overvoltage and shuts off the pass through as a means to protect the HEP system from damage.
Its not clear that the fact it has shown up in winter service is related to the actual weather, or that is where Amtrak is putting them into more heavier service.
It is also possible there are irregularities in the power system in the older passenger cars that the Siemens HEP system doesn’t like and shuts the system down, again to protect it from a short or a fire.
It’s possible someone was using a microwave in the cafe car and the EM noise on the circuit was causing the power relay to trip at the HEP feed. I have seen this in computer systems that don’t have enough noise filtering. Someone was running a hair dryer in a nearby bathroom and the noise the motor put on the line would cause the master UPS relay to trip.
And lets face it, today’s motive power use computers and sensors extensively to maintain itself when in operation.
Some progress finally being made with the new Charger units finally starting to appear on other Amtrak lines in the network. But I suggest that Amtrak retain some Genesis units in the fleet as backup power and insurance in case these new units still have their issues and the shop forces still haven’t figured out how to maintain and repair the new Charger units. If business really picks up and Amtrak has to increase service, the old Genesis units will come in handy. Amtrak can learn from what the Long Island Railroad did when they kept a substanial fleet of M-3 railcars around and are putting them back in service to meet customer demand. It doesn’t hurt to keep a backup fleet handy in the event that service levels increase
Joseph C. Markfelder
The real news flash should be how Amtrak learned to operate this train with more than one locomotive, especially considering the frequent grade-crossing accidents.
Now we wait for the next news flash–when Amtrak resolves its withering maintenance force since the pandemic so sleeper reservations are honored; not cancelled at the last minute with no options during season due to sleepers pulled out of consist.
I have to wonder how much effort Gardner&Co are making to build back mechanical department forces.
A Charger was tested on the Auto Train a while back.