CSXfoamer1997
OBS Chief
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2015
- Messages
- 575
Which of the two do you think could do the job better with a Long-Distance train, whether it's Viewliners or Superliners?
Two P42DC's or one Charger?
Two P42DC's or one Charger?
Amtrak will (and legally has to) buy said new locomotives from the lowest bidder; that's the way American government agency buy things. So it's entirely possible that EMD or MPI ends up with the contract rather then Siemens. EMD is in fact working (or at least suing) very hard to get back into the passenger locomotive business.But if ( that's a very big if ) Amtrak can get the funds we can probably expect Amtrak to also buy Long Distance chargers.( bigger fuel tanks and 1000 KW HEP )
Oh man did that make my day...and Snoopy's too!!4. DC traction motors ingest fine snow and short out many times where as AC very seldom. Note how well ACS-64s operated in the just past snow storm using AC traction motors.
Yes, there is an option in the Siemens Charger contract for up to 150 diesels in LD configuration with the specs spelled out. Amtrak was heavily involved in the writing of the specs and the contract bid process, so can't claim that the Siemens Charger contract award was not ok with Amtrak. So, if Amtrak wants to buy some new diesel locomotives for the LD and medium range eastern corridors, they already have the contract vehicle in place for how many years the options are good for. All Amtrak has to do is negotiate final terms, prices, and delivery schedule with Siemens. Which is a quick process compared to issuing an RFP and go through the long bid process again.I should note that there's already a sizable option for LD diesels in the existing charger order. So Amtrak in a way has already contracted this out, but who knows if they'll exercise their option on the Chargers.
Much of the early electrification in Italy (pre WW1) was three-phase AC and this was long before any meaningful rectifiers were available. They just used massive resistors to control the speed and also did tricks with parallel and series switching not too dissimilar to what was happening in the DC world, but just more complex. Italy later switched to all DC. In Germany there was a test electrification in circa 1903 that saw speeds of over 125mph being demonstrated, the fastest any train had done at that time. They used three phase motors in direct connection but the controller was not on the train but by the lineside. The lineside station thus dicacted the train's performance by varying the supply voltage and frequency. The only thing the train engineer could do was disconnect the power and apply the brake. There are still a small number of fixed frequency three-phase electrifications of that generation in use today, however. Mostly mounatin cog railways in Switzerland and France.They were actually invented by Tesla over 100 years ago, but to control their speed, they have to be transitor-controlled and so most practical uses required the invention of MOSFETs or IGBTs before they could be used. Now that those are standard, AC induction motors are standard.
150? I thought there were 225 options.Yes, there is an option in the Siemens Charger contract for up to 150 diesels in LD configuration with the specs spelled out. Amtrak was heavily involved in the writing of the specs and the contract bid process, so can't claim that the Siemens Charger contract award was not ok with Amtrak. So, if Amtrak wants to buy some new diesel locomotives for the LD and medium range eastern corridors, they already have the contract vehicle in place for how many years the options are good for. All Amtrak has to do is negotiate final terms, prices, and delivery schedule with Siemens. Which is a quick process compared to issuing an RFP and go through the long bid process again.I should note that there's already a sizable option for LD diesels in the existing charger order. So Amtrak in a way has already contracted this out, but who knows if they'll exercise their option on the Chargers.
Unless there are problems with the Siemens Chargers delivered to the states, no reason to expect Amtrak to do anything other to buy Charger locomotives if or when it can scrounge up the funds for a first batch locomotive order to start replacing or supplementing the shrinking fleet of working P-42s.
225 includes the 75 commuter configured locomotives for state corridor service. 150 is the number of long distance locomotives that would begin replacement of the Genesis fleet.150? I thought there were 225 options.Yes, there is an option in the Siemens Charger contract for up to 150 diesels in LD configuration with the specs spelled out. Amtrak was heavily involved in the writing of the specs and the contract bid process, so can't claim that the Siemens Charger contract award was not ok with Amtrak. So, if Amtrak wants to buy some new diesel locomotives for the LD and medium range eastern corridors, they already have the contract vehicle in place for how many years the options are good for. All Amtrak has to do is negotiate final terms, prices, and delivery schedule with Siemens. Which is a quick process compared to issuing an RFP and go through the long bid process again.I should note that there's already a sizable option for LD diesels in the existing charger order. So Amtrak in a way has already contracted this out, but who knows if they'll exercise their option on the Chargers.
Unless there are problems with the Siemens Chargers delivered to the states, no reason to expect Amtrak to do anything other to buy Charger locomotives if or when it can scrounge up the funds for a first batch locomotive order to start replacing or supplementing the shrinking fleet of working P-42s.
Are you sure those weren't using *synchronous* AC motors or *universal* AC/DC motors? (Look at Wikipedia for a long, long list of motor designs). For asynchronous AC induction motors, you change the speed by changing the *frequency* of the electricity and that's a humungous pain in the neck without modern electronics.Much of the early electrification in Italy (pre WW1) was three-phase AC and this was long before any meaningful rectifiers were available. They just used massive resistors to control the speed and also did tricks with parallel and series switching not too dissimilar to what was happening in the DC world, but just more complex.They were actually invented by Tesla over 100 years ago, but to control their speed, they have to be transitor-controlled and so most practical uses required the invention of MOSFETs or IGBTs before they could be used. Now that those are standard, AC induction motors are standard.
It's probably cheaper to have a smaller fuel tank. I expect the states didn't want to shell out for the bigger-fuel-tank design.Why build two different versions of the Chargers. Probably the only differences will be HEP capacity, fuel tank capacity, PTC installations. To not build all Chargers the same increases parts. Not having the greater HEP is just not very smart ( dumb ? ) Of course keeping the SD locos will tend to keep them from getting lost in the greater Amtrak system. But who knows what the Passenger system will be like in 10 years ?
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