Passenger Trains > AmCal F59s-Status Update?

My apologies for not paying closer attention, I've noticed the Amtrak California F59s are still running on the San Joaquin & Capital Corridor runs.  Are they to join Metra anytime soon or do they have an uncertain future?

The CDTX 2001-2015 received a 710ECO repower package in 2009-2010 that advanced them from
Tier 0 to Tier 2 in EPA emissions standards.  I'm unaware of any replacement plans and they should
continue in their present service for some years to come.

How are they able to keep these Units.
When there is a push to get Tier 4 Locomotives?

 

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

CDTX 2101-21015 are OWNED by the State of California and are not part of the units that were LEASED by Amtrak (and then rented/sub-leased to the State of California) of which that lease ended and they were returned to EMD and subsequently sold to Metra.

I do not believe there is a requirement under either the EPA or CalEPA or SCAQMD that they MUST get rid of older engines in use, but any newly acquired engines must be tier 4 compliant.

 

Yes, the F59PHIs that operate on the San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor services are indeed owned by California. They seem to work fine and as of right now, there’s probably no point in retiring them, even though there are many Chargers operating out there. In fact, the benefit of having both the Caltrans F59PHIs and Charger units is that Amtrak can have enough Genesis units to operate elsewhere. For the sake of good acceleration, it’s better not to have P42s and P40s operating on the Capitol Corridors given the narrow spacing between stops.

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As a side note, you can rebuild older units without having to upgrade to Tier 4. So the California owned F59’s will be around for foreseeable future.

Norfolk Southern rebuilt a bunch of units for this reason. They even bought other RR’s old power for their rebuild program.

Nathan

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