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Speed Enforcement System, a form of PTC which is installed on all locomotives and cab cars that operate on the route, both freight and passenger. Amtrak asserts that ACSES and other forms of PTC will avoid collisions altogether and so permit the use of more lightly-built equipment without compromis- ing passenger safety. ACSES is installed on the entire Corridor except for the Philadel- phia-New York segment, which should be fin- ished this year.


SINGLE LEVEL CARS — NOT JUST YET: Amtrak says the first four of eight prototypes of its 130-car, single-level long-distance equip- ment order will be delivered late this year and, after testing, could enter service by mid- 2014. The prototypes will include one each of the 25 sleepers, 25 diners, 25 baggage-dorms, and 55 full baggage cars, which will allow Am- trak to retire its remaining heritage equip- ment. The stainless steel cars are based on the quarter-century old Budd Viewliner de- sign and are being built from the ground up at by CAF USA, the North American subsidiary of Spain’s Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferro- carriles, S.A., at its facility in Elmira, N.Y. The order is expected to be completed by 2015.


First New Amtrak Electrics Will Arrive This Year


THE FIRST OF 70 NEW ACS-64 “AMTRAK CORRIDOR SPRINTER” electric locomotives are taking shape at the Siemens Mobility plant in Sacramento, Calif. The first ten carbodies were built at a Siemens facility in Munich, Germany, and shipped to the Sacramento assembly plant (above) last fall. Based on the successful Siemens Vectron series, the double-ended 8600 h.p. (6400 kW in European measure, hence the model designation) B-B units will be capable of pulling a 14-18 car single level train at 125 m.p.h. They will be able to operate under 25,000 volt 60Hz a.c., 12,500 volt 60Hz a.c. or 12,000 volt 25Hz a.c. power and feature regenerative braking, which returns energy to the catenary while slowing and stopping. (The AEM7s waste this ener- gy by burning it off through their dynamic brake grids.) To meet FRA crashworthiness require- ments, the carbodies have been beefed up with energy absorbing end crumple zones, protective cages surrounding the cabs, pushback couplers, and anticlimbers.


They’ll replace all 64 existing Amtrak electrics. First to go will be the 20 AEM-7DC’s, built by EMD between 1980 and 1988. After that, the 29 AEM-7AC’s as well as all 15 Bombardier HHP- 8s from 2000 will be bumped off by the new power, which, derived from a proven European de- sign, should be more successful than the HHP’s have been. Amtrak ordered the Siemens loco- motives in October 2010; they’ll be paid for through a $562.9 million Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan from the FRA. The order should be complete in 2016.


Amtrak


ISSUES JOINT RFI FOR FAST TRAINS: On January 17, Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority issued a joint Re- quest for Information asking for proposals for 220-m.p.h. electric multiple unit trainsets. Amtrak wants 12 sets to augment the existing Acela Express equipment and another 20 sets to eventually replace the Acelas around 2020. The Amtrak equipment would initially oper- ate at up to 150 m.p.h. with an increase to 220 as improvements are made to the Northeast Corridor. CHSRA would purchase 27 train- sets for its proposed San Francisco to Los An- geles system. (Property acquisition has start- ed on the California project and construction is expected to begin on the first phase in the Central Valley this summer.) Both agencies have specified single level, bidirectional electric multiple unit equip-


24 FEBRUARY 2013 • RAILFAN.COM


ment having cab cars with all cars powered, not locomotive-hauled trains like the Acelas. Amtrak wants from 400 to 600 seats per train, while CHSRA’s trains would seat 450 to 500 (the six-car Acelas seat 304). Amtrak wants standard ten-foot wide carbodies, but California is studying whether it will buy standard or 11-foot wide equipment. Shortly before issuing the RFI, Amtrak


said it would ask the Federal Railroad Ad- ministration to relax its crashworthiness re- quirements on equipment that’s operated over routes equipped with Positive Train Control. This would theoretically allow the railroad to use off-the-shelf designs that have been service tested on European and Asian high speed lines, although new FRA stan- dards for equipment operating over 150 m.p.h., now being written, could negate that possibility. Most of the Northeast Corridor is equipped with Amtrak’s Advanced Civil


VIRGINIA IDENTIFIES RAIL FUNDING: In announcing his 2013 Transportation Fund- ing and Reform Package, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell says he’ll create a dedicated pool of money for passenger rail and transit by increasing the automobile registration fee by $15.00, half of which would go to the Intercity Passenger Rail Operating and Capital Fund. (Beginning on October 1, 2013, states must assume all capital, maintenance, and opera- tions costs associated with Amtrak regional intercity passenger rail service, pursuant to Section 209 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008.) In addition to paying for Amtrak Virginia’s services to Rich- mond, Norfolk, Newport News, and Lynch- burg, the fund will provide money to extend Amtrak service from Lynchburg to Roanoke, now covered by a bus connection. The other half of the motor vehicle registra- tion fee increase will go to the Commonwealth Mass Transit Fund, which will also receive 14.7 per cent of an 0.8 per cent sales tax in- crease, as well as the proceeds from a new $100 Alternative Fuel Vehicle Fee. Another $300 million in sales tax receipts will be pegged to the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Ex- tension Project. (While the sales tax increase will replace the Commonwealth’s gasoline tax, the tax on diesel highway fuel will remain to insure that truckers continue to contribute to highway maintenance.) The Mass Transit Fund pays for Virginia Railway Express, Metrorail, and Norfolk’s Tide light rail system.


VERMONT TO PAY FOR EXPANSION: In his proposed 2014 budget, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has included money to institute Amtrak service between Rutland and Burling- ton over the Vermont Rail System by 2017. $5 million will be provided to install continuous welded rail and upgrade crossing protection in support of higher passenger train speeds, and an engineering study will evaluate the route’s bridges. The state has studied routing Amtrak


AMTRAK


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