All Aboard Florida - Siemens Train Release

Here is an article with some photos of the first Siemens Charger diesel-electric passenger locomotive.

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

 

The thing looks like Houston METRO S70 LRT cars on droids!

Dominic Mazoch posted:

The thing looks like Houston METRO S70 LRT cars on droids!

To me, it looks like Siemens smashed the cab of a HHP8 onto an ACS-64 body, then decided to paste on the front of a truck.

I just hope AAF/Brightline succeeds. This has to be costing Fortress a lot of money. 

Does anyone know who's getting the first Charger? Is it that coalition of DOTs in the Midwest? Or is it AAF? 

Here is another update on the Siemens locomotive & passenger cars for the All Aboard Florida passenger trains. I found these images on the Railway Gazette online news website.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

The project is being worked on in Palm Beach County, we have several railroad crossings that are being updated by FEC to dual tracks. Also some new train stations are being built in southeast FL from Miami to West Palm Beach along the FEC tracks. So if this project is not going through then somebody is wasting a whole lot of money.

Lee Fritz

It remains to be seen whether the AAF commuter service will get enough use for it to be kept running very long. It is not designed to help the Florida residents so much as the tourists commuting between South Florida cruise ships and tourist attractions in Orlando.

However, it's primary purpose will have been fulfilled even if the service is abandoned within the first year. The real purpose of AAF is enabling the FEC to secure the right of way between Orlando and it's existing tracks which are on the East coast, and also to secure permitting for upgrading the existing single track mainline to double tracks, which will also carry greatly expanded freight traffic from the ports on the East coast of Florida. With the enlarging of the Panama Canal enabling much larger container ships to pass through, all of the ports in South Florida are also being dredged to allow for these larger vessels. 

AAF trains will be short and traveling at relatively higher speeds, so their impact on vehicle traffic at grade crossings and boating traffic at drawbridges will be nothing compared to the expanded traffic planned for the much longer, slow moving freight trains. FEC is also planning to make the freight trains much longer than they already are, and will be adding more of them per day than than the AAF commuter trains.

Bill in FtL

Found some more photos of the Siemens Charger locomotive. The shape of the following locomotives looks different from the ones for All Aboard Florida / Brightline but they are still the same Siemens diesel-electric locomotive with the same Cummins Tier-IV compliant engines. The locomotives in the following pictures with be used with the new Surfliner like passenger cars from Nippon Sharyo in California, Washington, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland & few other states for their intercity (non long-distance) trains.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

 

Another update on the Siemens Charger locomotive. The article I found on Railway Gazette news mentioned that they are being tested at the Transportation Technology Center test tracks in Pueblo, CO. There is also a YouTube video, of the locomotive being tested, as viewed from the air. From the pictures I found so far it seems like this locomotive will have all LED lights.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Found an item in Wednesday's (8-31-2016)newspaper(section B page 8), the Palm Beach Post, new engines will be arriving this fall(no definite date set) for the All Aboard Florida train. They will be tested between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach on the FEC tracks.

Also there has been several upgraded railroad crossings in Palm Beach county.

Lee Fritz

Interesting images. Thanks. The paint schemes seem to me to be horrible. Designed by someone with no sense of asthetics whatsoever. What happened to the people who designed the "warbonnet" of the Santa Fe?

Tommy posted:

Interesting images. Thanks. The paint schemes seem to me to be horrible. Designed by someone with no sense of asthetics whatsoever. What happened to the people who designed the "warbonnet" of the Santa Fe?

 

naveenrajan posted:

Here is an article with some photos of the first Siemens Charger diesel-electric passenger locomotive.

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

 

And this one is not just your opinion?

Hot Water posted:

Tommy posted:

Interesting images. Thanks. The paint schemes seem to me to be horrible. Designed by someone with no sense of asthetics whatsoever. What happened to the people who designed the "warbonnet" of the Santa Fe?

He died many, many, many years ago.

 

June 25, 1939 to be exact.

Rusty

I just found another update on the Railway Gazette news on the Siemens Charger locomotive for the All Aboard Florida commuter train.

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

 

In my opinion, this locomotive definitely has more visual appeal than the Chargers that Amtrak is testing. Is the difference between the two variants solely sheetmetal? 

naveenrajan posted:

Found some more photos of the Siemens Charger locomotive. The shape of the following locomotives looks different from the ones for All Aboard Florida / Brightline but they are still the same Siemens diesel-electric locomotive with the same Cummins Tier-IV compliant engines. The locomotives in the following pictures with be used with the new Surfliner like passenger cars from Nippon Sharyo in California, Washington, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland & few other states for their intercity (non long-distance) trains.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Thanks Naveen, great updates. My friends think the only thing more unattractive than this locomotive and its paint scheme is two or more of them!

pittsburghrailfan posted:

In my opinion, this locomotive definitely has more visual appeal than the Chargers that Amtrak is testing. Is the difference between the two variants solely sheetmetal? 

Dan,

My interpretation of the news I read on Railway Gazette & Progressive Railroading, related to these Siemens Charge locomotive was that they were shared a lot of parts, including the engine. But obviously they don’t look the same. So I could guess that the external sheetmetal & paint are the biggest differences.

But let’s also consider the passenger cars each of these Charger locomotives are designed to haul.

While the Charger locomotive for the commuter trains in California, Washington, Maryland & the Midwest states are being built by Siemens, the passenger cars are not being built by Siemens. The US subsidiary of the Japanese train manufacturer, Nippon Sharyo was awarded the contract to build the cars at their US facility in Rochelle, IL. These double-deck commuter cars are supposed to look similar to the Amtrak California Surfliner commuter cars & be interoperable with other Superliner, Surfliner & Amtrak California cars. So vestibule heights must be same as the existing double-decker cars. They are also supposed to have a cab car with operator controls at the end away from the locomotive. A rendering of these cars are in the following photo.

For the All Aboard Florida / Brightline trains, Siemens is providing both the locomotives & the passenger cars. And there is supposed to be a Charger locomotive at each end & so no cab cars. These passenger cars are single-deck cars based on the award-winning Siemens Viaggio cars used in the Railjet somewhat-high-speed trains (143 mph max speed) used by Austrian & Czech state railways to Germany, Hungary & Switzerland.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

The appearance of these trains is certainly different than what we are used to in the USA.  I think that we will grow to like them and we start to see these trains on model railroads.  I wonder when the modern train era will become more popular in the model railroad community than the "transition" era.

NH Joe

naveenrajan posted:

I just found another update on the Railway Gazette news on the Siemens Charger locomotive for the All Aboard Florida commuter train.

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

 

Looks like a hybrid between a diesel and a S-70 LRT railcar!

Just read the news on Railway Gazette that the first Brightline trainset for All Aboard Florida was completed.

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

naveenrajan posted:

Just read the news on Railway Gazette that the first Brightline trainset for All Aboard Florida was completed.

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Looks like a train for the Minions!

I like the fact that the side cab window s in front of the cab doors are contoured with the nose of the locomotive.... Unlike the P40 & P42's that cost determined the clash of the rectangular cab  windows to the monocoque nose was accepted style... NOT!

According to the news here in West Palm Beach FL the first train just arrived for All Aboard Florida about 2 days ago. Projected or estimated start up time is around mid to late summer of 2017 for service between Miami and Jupiter FL.

Lee Fritz

It will never generate enough ridership as a tourist train to support it.

I lived in Florida 30 years and it’s not a region that will ever use something like this. Most of the ROW’s are gone now or hindered by densely populated cities for it to be useful as a commuter train. People still love the freedom of automobiles and the flexibility to travel on their own schedules. I wouldn’t get to excited. Our train travel is nothing like Europe or Japan.