As part of a comprehensive plan to modernize and expand its fleet of equipment, Amtrak is buying 70 new electric locomotives to provide improved performance and reliability for its Northeast intercity passenger rail services.
The six-year, $466 million contract was awarded to Siemens and will create 250 jobs primarily at a facility in Sacramento, California, but also at plants in Norwood, Ohio and Alpharetta, Georgia.
The new locomotives will replace ones that have been in service between 20 and 30 years, with average mileage of 3.5 million miles traveled.
"Amtrak is a critical transportation provider in the Northeast and modern locomotives are essential to meet the service reliability expectations of our passengers and for us to handle the growing ridership demand in the coming years," said President and CEO Joseph Boardman.
The first Amtrak Cities Sprinter ACS-64 electric locomotive is to be delivered in February 2013 and will operate at speeds up to 125 mph on the Northeast Corridor from Washington, DC to Boston and up to 110 mph on the Keystone Corridor from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
"As the global leader in rail innovation, we are thrilled that Amtrak has selected our proven locomotive technology which will create 250 green manufacturing jobs in the United States," said Daryl Dulaney, president and CEO, Siemens Industry, Inc.
"These locomotives will be built in America using renewable energy and provide cleaner, more efficient movement of people on the most heavily traveled rail route in the country."
The new Amtrak locomotive meets the latest federal safety regulations and includes additional safety features not yet required, such as crash energy management components like anti-climbing technology and push-back couplers designed to keep the train upright, inline and on the tracks in the event of a collision. The design also allows for easier maintenance leading to faster turnaround times and increased availability of locomotives for service.
The new locomotives will also be more energy efficient and will replace older units that presently do not have regenerative braking systems that can automatically return electricity to the power grid.
As the new units come into service, Amtrak plans first to retire all current 20 DC AEM-7 electric locomotives in its fleet, followed by replacement of all 29 AC AEM-7 units. The remaining 21 locomotives of the order will be used to replace all 15 HHP-8 locomotives with the additional units supporting anticipated service expansion.
