Passenger Trains > Beech Grove Bound 7/29/25 - Chicago Diesel Shop

514, viewliner diner, buffer car and Superliner sleeper went down yesterday. 

While waiting for 59, I swung by 18th street. There were dozens and dozens of chargers sitting idle. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/25 08:09 by sethamtrak.

I would love to see a video or picture of those idle engines you mentioned viewing around the Chicago Diesel Shop.

There appeared to be two more SC44's, two P42s and one phase VI ALC on the shop floor inside. A majority of the SC44 fleet is OOS. And 391 (SC44) just died at Champaign. Dead in the water. Busses coming. 

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So a couple of questions. 
1. Are they all really out of service?
2. If they are OOS, why? Awaiting parts?

Put those in the "picture is worth a thousand words" and send it to your congress person

Absolutely shameful that heaven and earth aren't being moved to get that equipment back in service.

Thanks for the photos!  Those three full tracks are "blue flagged". While that doesn't tell us for certain if the engines are Out of Service for an extended period of time, It doesn't look good.
If in the next day or two it still looks the same(engines not moved) that's a pretty good indicator of layed up equipment.  

Would the term " slow walking " apply to the continued decline in Amtrak LD service out of Chicago ? 

Only AmManagement can answer our questions.

But, no one DARE ask them any questions -- they
are getting away with "Soviet Style" silence.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So a couple of questions. 
> 1. Are they all really out of service?
> 2. If they are OOS, why? Awaiting parts?

Lack of spare parts have been a common complaint since 2018. This is why Buy America is dumb and costly to tax payers, the Chargers should’ve been built in Germany and Amtrak should be allowed to find parts sources outside of the US.

AmtrakMidwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So a couple of questions. 
> > 1. Are they all really out of service?
> > 2. If they are OOS, why? Awaiting parts?
>
> Lack of spare parts have been a common complaint
> since 2018. This is why Buy America is dumb and
> costly to tax payers, the Chargers should’ve
> been built in Germany and Amtrak should be allowed
> to find parts sources outside of the US.

What Tier 4 compliant Diesel would they use if they were to assemble the locomotives in Germany?

AmtrakMidwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So a couple of questions. 
> > 1. Are they all really out of service?
> > 2. If they are OOS, why? Awaiting parts?
>
> Lack of spare parts have been a common complaint
> since 2018. This is why Buy America is dumb and
> costly to tax payers, the Chargers should’ve
> been built in Germany and Amtrak should be allowed
> to find parts sources outside of the US.

As someone who used to work in Procurement and has to deal with the Buy America BS I fully agree with this.

Posted from Android

AmtrakMidwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So a couple of questions. 
> > 1. Are they all really out of service?
> > 2. If they are OOS, why? Awaiting parts?
>
> Lack of spare parts have been a common complaint
> since 2018. This is why Buy America is dumb and
> costly to tax payers, the Chargers should’ve
> been built in Germany and Amtrak should be allowed
> to find parts sources outside of the US.

They do find "parts" and "sources" outside of the US and have: 

From the Department of Transportation website:

Under normal circumstances, Amtrak is required to adhere to "Buy America" regulations, which stipulate a preference for goods and materials produced within the United States. However, there are exceptions to this rule. The Secretary of Transportation can grant waivers allowing Amtrak to purchase parts from outside the United States if:

• The domestic buying requirements are deemed inconsistent with the public interest.
• The cost of requiring domestic parts is considered unreasonable.
• The necessary articles, materials, or supplies (or the materials they are manufactured from) are not available in sufficient quantities or satisfactory quality within the US.
• Rolling stock or power train equipment cannot be bought and delivered within the US within a reasonable time frame. 

Example (see link below) - In 2020, Amtrak received a waiver to purchase certain non-domestic track maintenance equipment because domestically produced equipment meeting their specifications was not available. While the general principle is to prioritize domestic purchases, Amtrak can buy parts outside the United States under specific, approved circumstances where US-made options are not feasible or satisfactory.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/01/2020-14155/notice-of-intent-to-grant-a-buy-america-exemption-to-amtrak-to-purchase-certain-non-domestic-track#:~:text=With%20certain%20exceptions%2C%20Amtrak's%20Buy,%E2%80%9Cnon%2Davailability%20exemption.%E2%80%9D



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/25 15:09 by jp1822.

Didn't NJ Transit get a similar waiver for its ALP45 dual power locomotives, made in Germany?

I'm still  hung up on the spare parts issue.  There are 75 or so Amtrak Charger units, another 40-50 state owned units, 21 (?) Brightline units, and another 100 Amtrak units on order. That would seem to be a decent order flow to make supplies of spare and replacement parts available. Basic stuff like air filters, fuel filter caps etc. And less often requested material like nose cones, wheel assemblies, windshield assemblies, etc.  I believe BrightLine 109 is still out of service awaiting windshield and nose cone from its fire truck encounter

330 hasn't been in service since December last year. I can't read the number of the one beside it. 

> From the Department of Transportation website:
>
> Under normal circumstances, Amtrak is required to
> adhere to "Buy America" regulations, which
> stipulate a preference for goods and materials
> produced within the United States. However, there
> are exceptions to this rule. The Secretary of
> Transportation can grant waivers allowing Amtrak
> to purchase parts from outside the United States
> if:
>
> [*]The domestic buying requirements are deemed
> inconsistent with the public interest.
> [*]The cost of requiring domestic parts is
> considered unreasonable.
> [*]The necessary articles, materials, or supplies
> (or the materials they are manufactured from) are
> not available in sufficient quantities or
> satisfactory quality within the US.
> [*]Rolling stock or power train equipment cannot
> be bought and delivered within the US within a
> reasonable time frame. 
>
> Example (see link below) - In 2020, Amtrak
> received a waiver to purchase certain non-domestic
> track maintenance equipment because domestically
> produced equipment meeting their specifications
> was not available. While the general principle is
> to prioritize domestic purchases, Amtrak can buy
> parts outside the United States under specific,
> approved circumstances where US-made options are
> not feasible or satisfactory.
>
> https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/
> 01/2020-14155/notice-of-intent-to-grant-a-buy-amer
> ica-exemption-to-amtrak-to-purchase-certain-non-do
>

Still quite a bit of stipulations, however the SC44s were purchased way back with ARRA money which had a Buy America requirement. After production on those ramped up it was probably cheaper though to produce the ALCs domestically.

RU412 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 330 hasn't been in service since December last
> year. I can't read the number of the one beside
> it.

I think they are just awaiting their turn in the wash rack. As soon as it gets up and running, look out.

Out here in the Seattle area, we seem to be able to keep, on average, roughly six of our eight Cascades SC-44 Chargers in service at any one time without a lot of over-the-road failures.  Not great, but a lot better than Chicago.  I'm not sure what's going on.

NPRocky Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Out here in the Seattle area, we seem to be able
> to keep, on average, roughly six of our eight
> Cascades SC-44 Chargers in service at any one time
> without a lot of over-the-road failures.  Not
> great, but a lot better than Chicago.  I'm not
> sure what's going on.

Yes.  BrightLine keeps most of its eight year old Chargers on line, too. Road failures happen once in a while, but they are rare.

FWIW, I think the Florida difference is a maintenance contract run by Siemens, with a guaranteed parts supply.  

Amtrak used to be able to maintain extremely high reliability with its 1999 era Acela 1.0 power. For many years it kept 17 of 20 (21?) train sets in service. With Amtrak people and Alstom technicians.  Then Amtrak decided it could do better on its own, folding Acela into its regular maintenance routines. 

How many engines are setting at the other end of the yard by the water?
Dennis

Posted from iPhone

cajon Wrote:
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> How many engines are setting at the other end of
> the yard by the water?
> Dennis
>
> Posted from iPhone

Just the 164 and 837. 

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