Amtrak Siemens Charger locomotive (SC44, ALC42, ALC42E)

[railiner]

Change is often unpopular.

Anyone that was around when diesel's displaced steam, can attest to that...
But then, and now...each side has its fierce partisans...

 

[lordsigma]

Although I’ll sometimes get snarky with some of the anti Charger ranting out there (such as it’s time to scrap them and rebuild the P42s and other old engines, it’s time to use them on warm routes only and rebuild P42s for the western routes, and other silly suggestions) posted by some of the railfans out there I kind of give the employees a bit of a pass on complaining about them as they often have to endure the bumps in the road with this kind of change I’m sure often times with little to no management support and I’m sure that can get annoying so I can’t really blame them for complaining when it gets frustrating. And certainly Siemens needs to be made aware of problems that do continue to happen and have their feet held to the fire to make any needed modifications. Have no love for Siemens or have any Siemens stock but not really having access to the internal information on specific issues and the back and forth between Amtrak and Siemens and what is being done to complain in an intelligent manner I choose not to join the anti Charger club.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

Although I’ll sometimes get snarky with some of the anti Charger ranting out there (such as it’s time to scrap them and rebuild the P42s and other old engines, it’s time to use them on warm routes only and rebuild P42s for the western routes, and other silly suggestions) posted by some of the railfans out there I kind of give the employees a bit of a pass on complaining about them as they often have to endure the bumps in the road with this kind of change I’m sure often times with little to no management support and I’m sure that can get annoying so I can’t really blame them for complaining when it gets frustrating. And certainly Siemens needs to be made aware of problems that do continue to happen and have their feet held to the fire to make any needed modifications. Have no love for Siemens or have any Siemens stock but not really having access to the internal information on specific issues and the back and forth between Amtrak and Siemens and what is being done to complain in an intelligent manner I choose not to join the anti Charger club.

Realize that Amtrak ordered the Chargers for a reason. If it made more sense to rebuild the Genesis, they would've gone in that direction. It's the same reason why Amtrak didn't rebuild the F40s (outside of NPCU conversions) over two and half decades ago, most of the engines were worn out from heavy use. The same situation has taken place for the Genesis.

There is going to be that someone that'll bring this up, so let me end it right there. Amtrak is not a commuter railroad and has far more long distance/intercity routes then Via Rail does. So the equipment wear Amtrak does on equipment is a lot.

As for how Siemens equipment can handle the cold, I read that the Finnish railway has Vectron locomotives which is what the Chargers are based off of (albeit the diesel variation) that are capable of operating in temperatures that are as low as -40°C. I don't think we see temperatures that cold very often in the US, unless you live in Alaska. So I think the Siemens locomotives and passenger cars will be okay, once Amtrak and Siemens have worked out the issues.

 

[west point]

Here is one possible way things cold go that would be a disaster. Amtrak unfortunately has had a history of each new piece of equipment after Amfleets of that equipment being put out of service for some length of time. Now what happens to Amtrak if all Chargers get sidelined. No P-42s to take over due the P-42s not getting proper maintenance now?.

 

[GDRRiley]

Here is one possible way things cold go that would be a disaster. Amtrak unfortunately has had a history of each new piece of equipment after Amfleets of that equipment being put out of service for some length of time. Now what happens to Amtrak if all Chargers get sidelined. No P-42s to take over due the P-42s not getting proper maintenance now?.

Amtrak would likely pull trains with freight units and rush build HEP cars if it was going to be a while.

 

[jis]

This is a case of unnecessary catastrophising based on a false premise IMHO. The only case requiring full withdrawal of equipment I can think of is the Acelas. What other equipment had to be fully withdrawn after substantial deployment? I can’t think of any. There is relatively low likelihood of all Chargers getting sidelined.

 

[chadamfleetrailfan]

I'm so glad to see that the Day 1 livery (#301) is starting to make a comeback...and leading too! This is my favorite charger.

It was on #29 last night (10/19) from DC and is headed back towards DC on tonight (10/20)'s #30 (as seen below from the Chesterton, IN railcam). I know that it has been in PA for quite a while, but glad to see it back in use.



I'm hoping that it stays active and leading for a while.

 

[lordsigma]

The ALC-42s made their first run on both Silver service trains in the last couple days in the trailing position and also are running regularly on the Palmetto now. Leading on the Silvers and Palmetto is possible now as a few months back they finally got certified for ATC. I think the only route now they cannot still lead on is the Lake Shore Limited as they have not yet been certified for ACSES. ACSES is required on the Lake Shore Limited from Albany/Rensselaer to Hoffmans as well as on the MBTA Worcester line from Worcester to Boston South Station.

 

[Agent]

Two more Chargers, AMTK 341 and 343, were ferried from the Siemens factory today. Leading the light power move was the Operation Lifesaver unit AMTK 203. Sky Rider posted a video of this move.



CabCar6962 also filmed it at Pinole, California.

 

[Septa9739]

It seems like Siemens is finally starting to churn these out a a good clip, hopefully a sign of good things to come.