70 new crash-worthy locos for Amtrak

Siemens, an international engineering firm with its U.S. headquarters in Washington, D.C., and plants throughout the U.S., has won a $466 million contract from Amtrak to build 70 Sprinter ACS-64 electric locomotives for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and Keystone Corridor.

Important to train crews, the new locomotives will incorporate the latest crash energy management components, such as “push-back” couplers to keep the locomotives upright, in-line and on the tracks in the event of a collision, said Amtrak in a press release.

The new Siemens locomotives are to go into service beginning in February 2013.

The new locomotives also will have regenerative electrical systems that return power to the grid. They will replace AEM-7 locomotives that are up to 30 years old and have traveled an average of 3.5 million miles each, Amtrak said in a press release.

Amtrak said the new locomotives will be capable of speeds up to 125-mph on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston, and 110-mph on the Keystone Corridor west from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pa.

The new locomotives and their components will be built and assembled in Siemens plants in Sacramento, Calif., Norwood, Ohio, and Alpharetta, Ga.