PDA

View Full Version : Amtrak Unveils It's New Engines.



N2NH
05-13-2013, 01:29 PM
Amtrak is replacing some of it's aging fleet of engines, starting with some on its most travelled routes.


The three are the first of 70 new locomotives the railroad is buying to operate on the Northeast corridor between Washington and Boston. Amtrak said they would operate at speeds up to 125 miles per hour on the Northeast route, matching the top speed of its current regional trains.The trains also will operate on Amtrak’s Keystone route between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa., where they will operate at speeds up to 110 m.p.h., officials at the railroad said.
The new locomotives will be regular trains, not the railroad’s high-speed Acela line, which reaches top speeds of 150 m.p.h..
“The new Amtrak locomotives will help power the economic future of the Northeast region, provide more reliable and efficient service for passengers, and support the rebirth of rail manufacturing in America,” said Joseph H. Boardman, Amtrak’s president and chief executive.
The locomotives are part of a $466 million contract with Siemens. They will replace engines that have been in service for 25 to 35 years and have run an average of more than 3.5 million miles. Some of them have logged an average of nearly 4.5 million miles.
The engines are being paid for with a $532 million loan from the Federal Railroad Administration, money that Amtrak said it would recoup with ticket revenue from the Northeast corridor. The company also estimates that the new locomotives will save it more than $300 million in energy costs.

They remind me a bit of AMTRAKs AEM-7s.



Amtrak Unveils New Locomotives (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/us/amtrak-unveils-new-locomotives.html?_r=0)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Aem7_916.jpg/300px-Aem7_916.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/juhc14.jpg

NQ6U
05-13-2013, 02:14 PM
They look very Euro. No surprise, I guess, considering the contractor. I understand that it's been mostly manufactured here in the US though.

On Edit: They should electrify the line running between San Diego and Los Angeles. It's Amtrak's second-most profitable route.

W3WN
05-13-2013, 02:16 PM
Well...

They're not bad looking, mind you... though they do kinda resemble the dinky little LRT's that the Port Authority uses around here...

...and I think Siemens is or was involved in that contract as well...

But I do miss the GG-1's. (Especially the ones in maroon, with yellow lettering)

My bad... I meant classic PRR Tuscan Red, of course

K7SGJ
05-13-2013, 02:16 PM
They look very Euro. No surprise, I guess, considering the contractor. I understand that it's been mostly manufactured here in the US though.

On Edit: They should electrify the line running between San Diego and Los Angeles. It's Amtrak's second-most profitable route.


Just electrify the tracks. That should cull the heard a bit.

NQ6U
05-13-2013, 02:18 PM
I do miss the GG-1's. (Especially the ones in maroon, with yellow lettering)

Those things were awesome, wish I'd had a chance to see one in the wild.

W3WN
05-13-2013, 02:21 PM
Those things were awesome, wish I'd had a chance to see one in the wild.
Yeah.

One of these days, I have to go through my old slide collection, from before I went off to school. I'm not sure now if I have a GG-1 picture in there or not; we didn't live too far from the Main Line at the time, and my brother & I did like to watch them, so it's possible.

If I have any though, they'll be in Penn Central colors though, not the classic PRR scheme that they should be in...

9619

N2NH
05-13-2013, 08:26 PM
In the late 60s I rode behind GG-1 powered trains from Washington (DC) to NYC. They were very smooth in stopping and accelerating and one I was on, I clocked at 129MPH in South Jersey. We were over an hour late out of Wilmington DE, but got into Penn Station in NYC 16 minutes early. -A side view of the AMTRAKs new ACS-64 (http://globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=6lJ69MBnXYTATBW4wI_eUtJDKR0-O9g_--SlcxcXb3KhX6QZ3RwJwWQpCVhqzzfPDgkXcoQDFmY-rI0UqWEv44AuaGKF_Q1JrUSh4nnz_qvmZ1SEUnJzXs1ker0L1O CE598aGuvE_tKoq95wHR9NUKKOzYoOqMMAsprL4nV3O0g%3D):

http://blog.amtrak.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Press_INR_DSC_2552-450x300.jpg

The NH Jets (EP-5) were just as impressive and ran from NYC to New Haven (on the mainline)...

http://winterhouse.com/blog/matter.223.jpg

KG4NEL
05-15-2013, 10:15 PM
Amtrak's main line through NC goes right by my office, I almost see someone get flattened by one of these about every week:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6878280479_456b3947d0_z.jpg

KG4CGC
05-15-2013, 11:35 PM
Amtrak's main line through NC goes right by my office, I almost see someone get flattened by one of these about every week:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6878280479_456b3947d0_z.jpg
Strange to me. It look like Russian train. When You Ess make Russian train? Russian train strong. Strong like bool!

W2NAP
05-15-2013, 11:36 PM
hardly ever see a amtrak train run though here.

WØTKX
05-15-2013, 11:53 PM
It's blue, so its a Democratic Socialist train.

Asheville? ;)

NQ6U
05-15-2013, 11:55 PM
Strange to me. It look like Russian train. When You Ess make Russian train? Russian train strong. Strong like bool!

Ees gud socialist train, dah, Tovarisch?

KG4CGC
05-15-2013, 11:59 PM
It's blue, so its a Democratic Socialist train.

Asheville? ;)

http://www.rathergood.com/laibach

KG4NEL
05-16-2013, 08:30 AM
It's blue, so its a Democratic Socialist train.

Asheville? ;)

Durham, actually :scared:

KG4NEL
05-16-2013, 08:32 AM
Ees gud socialist train, dah, Tovarisch?

These modern trains don't have a place for Vladimir Illyich to harangue the workers from the back of the coaches, unfortunately.

W3WN
05-16-2013, 09:53 PM
Amtrak's main line through NC goes right by my office, I almost see someone get flattened by one of these about every week:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6878280479_456b3947d0_z.jpgNice.

I work only a few blocks from the Amtrak station, and I can see the Fort Wayne (Railroad) Bridge across the Allegheny from my front window. Unfortunately, no Amtrak trains come through during working hours.

n2ize
05-19-2013, 09:43 PM
Strange to me. It look like Russian train. When You Ess make Russian train? Russian train strong. Strong like bool!

Roosian tren bettour than Kepeetaleest peeg American tren.