This has been a long time coming, and will affect multiple Amtrak lines across the state, including the Wolverine (Pontiac – Detroit – Ann Arbor – Chicago), the Pere Marquette (Grand Rapids – Chicago) and the Blue Water (Port Huron – East Lansing – Chicago). These routes will soon be powered by new, greener, Siemens-built Charger locomotives that can run at speeds of 125 mph.
Quote:
Fast, green locomotives coming to Michigan
by Karen Hopper Usher - Capital News Service
June 21, 2017
Greener trains are coming to the Great Lakes region.
Technically, they’re locomotives. That’s the part of the train that does the pushing or the pulling. The Siemens Chargers, which are due to arrive by fall, meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s “tier four” standards. Tier four is the agency’s highest standard for emissions.
Besides leaving a smaller carbon footprint, the locomotives can get up to speed faster than older models. A 94-mile section of track between Porter, Indiana, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, for example, could see trains flying through at 110 miles per hour without a long acceleration period.
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Image: A Siemens SC-44 Charger in Denver, CO, 2016.
Image Source:
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