EMD?

@rdunniii posted:

Has EMD quit the North American locomotive market?  The latest I've seen is most of the T4s going to Mexico on a long term lease.  That was over a year ago.  I see a few UP units now and then but that is it.

First, there is no longer an "EMD". They are now, and have been for some years, Progress Rail, a Caterpillar Company. Second, there has not been a need for new domestic locomotives for quite some time, so there have been a lot of re-manufacturing of older units going on.

Progress Rail Services Corporation has been a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar since 2006.

Does GE still make diesel locomotives? Why did Amtrak go with Siemens for their newer electrics and diesels rather than GE who made the P40 Genesis series diesels? When did EMD quit making locomotives? You still see EMD's on class 1's and short lines and regional railroads.

GE was acquired by Wabtec in 2019 and is still producing locomotives.

@Robert K posted:

Why did Amtrak go with Siemens for their newer electrics and diesels rather than GE who made the P40 Genesis series diesels?

Because GE Genesis weren't ugly looking enough.  So they found something even uglier!

One would presume that rather than to ask a domestic manufacturer to produce a one-off like the Genesis they went shopping around the world to find an off the shelf (or slightly modified) passenger locomotive.

I looked up “ugly” on google… Sho-nuff pictures of Genesis locos were 1, 2 & 3.

There may not have been a need but someone is still producing lots of new ET44s. Also, I just saw a short video with a SD70ACE-T4 hybrid with an EMD logo on the nose, in addition to Progress Rail but other than that...

One of them is also working in Australia on Ammonia/Green/White hydrogen locomotives.

wabtec and progress rail are both designing hydrogen locomotives but they won't be ready until 2026 or 2027

Regarding Amtrak's decision to switch to Siemens as its principal locomotive supplier, corporate decisions of that type are driven -- or at least influenced -- by factors not always evident to the public.

• One factor could be price (and this would include financing).  In the 1980's, GE was breaking into EMD strongholds this way, as well as predicting fuel cost savings over EMD.
• Although they are a foreign design, the Siemens locomotives use diesel engines supplied by Cummins, rather than European diesels which have not had past success in North America.  That does not mean that there will not be problems with the Cummins diesel engines, but Cummins is well established in North America and will surely give good support so that Cummins powered diesel-electric locomotives might demonstrate sufficient reliability to be able to break into major freight railroad fleets in large numbers.  The Charger locomotives are fairly modern designs departing from the legacy U.S. locomotives in many respects, and using higher speed diesels built with present and future emissions requirements in mind.  Meeting emissions requirements is a critical factor if the new locomotives are going to be expected to provide long service lives, such as the F40PH and the P40 did.  Amtrak is always acutely aware of financial considerations. There's a lot of money at risk if future emissions requirements require expensive major modifications.
• Beauty does not pull the train.

Siemens Chargers are all manufactured in Sacramento, CA.  Since 3rd Rail is doing these, Scott and I have an open invitation to tour the manufacturing facility. We definitely need to take them up on this before it's too late.

To the topic, passenger locomotives are almost like building steam locomotives these days in a more modern sense.  The demand is not large so small batch orders dictate manufacturing.  Siemens has made a stake in the US and Canada producing not only locomotives, but passenger cars to upgrade Amtrak's and VIA's fleet of aging locomotives and cars.  It makes sense to use proven technology as a starting point over starting with something new and Siemens is a worldwide supplier of railroad equipment.  Siemens has a good LinkedIn page that shows how universal their designs and equipment have become worldwide. 

EMD still has a minor influence in the market with their rebuilt SD70s that Metra purchased for commuter operations.  However, the current US market for new locomotive power in general isn't too strong for new designs as the freight railroad move to precision railroading and are putting existing locomotives into storage.  As this industry is cyclical, this will of course change in time.  There still isn't a more efficient way to move a large group of people or goods compared to steel wheels on steel rail.