There are traction motors in the trucks under the power car, and the motors in the ALCE-42 are also supplied with power from the power car. So there are in total four powered truck when running under catenary power. Only two powered trucks under diesel power since the total power available is limited by the power of the prime mover in that mode.
The talk in the NEC commission planning documents is the New Haven - Springfield and valley Flyer Amtrak services will shift more towards through trains rather than locals. An eventual goal is hourly through train service between Springfield and New York. Some of these through trains will terminate at Springfield, some will serve Greenfield, others will take the inland route to Boston. Notably the Airo turnaround facility will be located at Springfield rather than New Haven which also supports this change in operations. CTDOT will fill in the local schedule between what Amtrak wants to run with locals.
https://www.esparail.org/resources/climate-change-and-rail/ (you need to scroll down a ways) indicates that at least under electric power, there will be three powered trucks. In theory, if you're traction limited instead of horsepower limited such as when accelerating from a dead stop, trying to avoid wheelslip, you might see a benefit from running the third powered truck. Additionally it may be helpful to dynamic brake via the APV axles in addition to the locomotive. However once you're moving you won't have enough power from the diesel to run every traction motor - they don't say one way or the other but I'd be very surprised if more than two trucks were powered most of the time when using the diesel.
Thank you for sharing that link. It makes sense to distribute traction to help with adhesion. I would suspect that 3 - 4 powered trucks will help with acceleration when compared to a similar length ACS-64 and 6 - 8 Amfleet cars. Perhaps, the new Airo trainsets will help shave a couple of minutes off the schedule.
New Haven to Springfield is a good example. To be fair, if you have a 10 min dwell time once the dual modes are implemented then everyone involved should be fired. That would be an outrageous amount of excess time without any need.
What’s your cutoff on required power per axle to run while at a decent speed? Seems like you have a rough idea of a speed where you would want to switch from 3 to 2 powered axles
First we have no idea how Siemens will program the traction power. It may just power all trucks in electrical mode. Will it go to 2 trucks in diesel mode once full diesel power can be used on 2 trucks? Have no idea.
I won't be surprised if they don't do anything. It is an added complication for little gain. Theoretically they could cut out a truck in a two truck loco too, but they don;t do it. Afterall just delivering the power that is needed in itself reduces power consumption anyway.
Additionally it does provide a work around for their frequent catenary and power supply issues too
Frankly, I had expected them to take the Railjet approach wherein they use standard locomotive at one end of the consist with a cab car at the other end. But I guess when someone is suddenly flush with cash there is a tendency to not do things that does not prematurely retire equipment, unless of course we are unaware of some problems lurking under the hood of the ACS-64s.
America needs to get in the habit of not running their fleets down to the wire before thinking of replacements.
Unless there's a major shift in priorities, I don't figure electrification would move faster than that. The current state of VA passenger rail projects is already ambitious. The goal, I think correctly, seems to be coverage and service improvements first. Getting the East-West corridor open, getting the Manassas VRE/Lynchburg Amtrak improvements underway, getting the Roanoke to New River Valley extension going, getting the planned Richmond corridor upgrades in progress, and getting their side of the S-Line started is probably enough to keep them occupied for the next ten years - then take another five or six years to plan and start construction on electrification. VRE, through DC service from MARC, or a push from Amtrak could all see the timetable moved up, though.
Virginia certainly has a plate full of projects, and I really hope many of them work out as this is my home state. Electrification may have years to go here; however, I can imagine partial electrification being established on the S-Line for any intercity trains that intend to utilize the line and Airo sets. Although, such routes likely won’t see the sets until the listed routes already planned to have them have the sets in full service.
I don’t know the exact reason but didn’t CSX complain about wires “getting in the way” of double stacked containers? If so, the deal likely involved no wires.
Actually there will finally be 4 tracks from 1st street to Franconia. It will be the 2 western tracks owned by VA DOT from 1st street to past ALX. So, see no problem of wires as far as past ALX.
