Amtrak's New Northeast Corridor Workhorse

Siemens ACS-64 #600 at Sacramento Manufacturing Facility May 2013
Photo Credit: Siemens/Amtrak (for all images unless otherwise specified)

Last week Friday (Feb. 7) Amtrak's newest fleet member completed its inaugural run on the the busy Northeast Corridor line on Northeast Regional #171 from Boston South Station to Union Station, Washington D.C. The brand new Siemens ACS-64 (ACS stands for "American Cities Sprinter") electric locomotive at the head end of the train is the first of 70 of the type to be delivered to Amtrak over a period of roughly two years. The locomotives, which are assembled by Siemens in Sacramento, CA to satisfy the "Buy America" requirement for federal funding, will be delivered at a rate of approximately three per month, with the final units arriving sometime next year. 

ACS-64 engineer's compartment

In addition to eventually powering all Northeast Regional and long-distance trains on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) (which serves Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and points in between), the new locomotives will also operate on the Keystone Corridor branch line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, PA. 

The incoming locomotive units will replace the 20 EMD AEM-7 (DC), 29 EMD AEM-7 (AC), and 15 Bombardier/Alstom HHP-8 electric locomotives currently powering trains on the NEC, most having over 3.5 million miles on them. The Swedish-designed AEM-7 locomotives (nicknamed "toasters" and originally all DC units) were delivered to Amtrak between 1978 and 1988. Between 1999 and 2002, 29 of these locomotives were upgraded by Amtrak and Alstom  to "AC" units with greater amount of horsepower allowing them to haul longer trains. 

The HHP-8 locomotives are based on the design of the Acela Express high-speed trainsets and were delivered between 1999 and 2001. Up until the ACS-64 was placed into service the HHP-8's where the newest and most powerful locomotives in the Amtrak fleet, but have been suffering from persistent reliability problems, leading to their premature retirement.

Vice President Joe Biden inspecting the first ACS-64 at Philadelphia's 30th St Station prior to the unit's first revenue trip

The new ACS-64 locomotives will match or exceed the capabilities of the current fleet in every performance category and will be able to operate at 125mph pulling up to 18 Amfleet cars. The locomotives are designed for improved reliability and easier maintenance leading to faster turn-around times and increased availability for service. Technology highlights include a state-of-the-art microprocessor system performs self-diagnosis of technical issues as well as a regenerative braking system to feed energy back into the power grid (similar to systems found on hybrid vehicles).

Amtrak has been seeing record ridership on its Northeast Regional service (the heaviest-travelled in the nation by far) for the last few years. In fiscal year 2013 there were 8,044,216 passengers riding Northeast Regional trains, the most in history. Amtrak carries three passengers for every one airline passenger between Washington and New York, and moves more passengers between New York and Boston than all the airlines combined. 

ACS-64 leading Northeast Regional #152 through Odenton, MD on its 2nd revenue trip, Feb 8
Photo Credit: Ryan Stavely via Wikipedia

The Northeast Corridor is clearly a vital component to the region's transportation network and, even more so, its economy, and will continue to be for years to come. Continued investment in the Corridor to purchase new equipment, such as the ACS-64, and upgrade/replace aging infrastructure is therefore extremely important to maintain a high degree of reliability, safety, and comfort, and to ensure future growth.