Bombardier/Alstom HHP-8

By -
The HHP-8 (High Horse Power 8,000) is an 8,000 horsepower (5,970 kW) 4-axle AC electric locomotive acquired by Amtrak and MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) in the early 2000s for uses on the Northeast Corridor.  It is designed and manufactured by a consortium formed by Bombardier (Canada) and Alstom (France).  Trains hauled by the HHP-8 were initially branded as the Acela Regional, due to riders’ confusion between the three Acela branded trains offered at the time, the Acela logos were removed from the HHP-8 and the services were renamed the Northeast Regional.

Northeast Regional with HHP-8 and Amfleet I


Typical equipment on the Northeast Regional trains today consist of either the HHP-8 or AEM-7 locomotive and Amfleet I stainless steel passenger coaches.  They operate at a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h).  Today the HHP-8 also hauls long distance services on the Northeast Corridor up to a top speed of 110 mph (177 km/h).  The only Acela branded trains offered by Amtrak today are the 150 mph (240 km/h) Business Class and First Class only Acela Express.  Amtrak operates a total of 15 HHP-8s and MARC owns 6.

MARC commuter train with HHP-8

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amtrak NPCU

By -
Image
The NPCU or Non-powered Control Units are control cars used by Amtrak that are modified from surplus EMD F40PH locomotives. A control car is a generic term for a non-powered railroad vehicle that can control operation of a train from the end opposite to the position of the locomotive. They can be used with diesel or electric motive power, allowing push-pull operation without the use of an additional locomotive. Control cars first appeared in the USA and France in 1960s. Trains operating with a locomotive at one end and a control car at the other do not require the locomotive to run around to the opposite end of the train when reversing direction. In the United States, most control cars are modified from retired locomotives by removing tractive equipment and adding side baggage doors and have been used on several passenger railroads. The control cars are connected through the consist of the train by standard AAR 27-wire multiple unit jumper cables. The NPCUs at Amtrak are a
Read more

Briefly on the AAR Coupler Part 2

By -
Image
Last week, we've identified the Janney coupler and briefly looked at its elegant design. This week, let's, again, very briefly, look at the different types of Janney coupler that are widely used today. I will only talk about the head of the coupler, and ignore anything that the general public may need to trespass onto railroad property and get in a unsafe situation in order to have a good look at. As far as coupler heads are concerned, there are 3 types in used today. Type E, F, and H. Types E and F are used on freight, and H used on passenger equipment. Since the withdrawal of passenger service in North America by private railroads, the Type H standard is no longer maintained by the Association of American Railroads, a trade group formed of major freight railroads, but is under the control of the APTA, the American Public Transportation Association. Now let me introduce another term, slack. Slack is an allowed gap between two coupled up couplers. In other words, when most
Read more

SD70ACu

By Yi -
Image
After the post on the shiny rebuilt GE road power, it's only fair to have a look into what Progress Rail has to offer on their side of the table. I'm using the company's recently-changed, formal name of course. For those who are not up-to-date on the current state of North American railroading affairs, Progress Rail is the company (owned by Caterpillar) that purchased EMD a few years ago. The SD90MAC was arguably the biggest gong show in EMD's recent memory. It happened at a time when they were comfortably resting on their laurels, unaware the fateful changes that were about to occur in the locomotive market in the not-so-distant future (they got beaten badly by GE). What was supposed to be one of the most remarkable locomotives whose presence is to grace the mainlines in modern history, turned out to be an utter disaster (I'll redirect further readings to Wikipedia). As a result, today, the number of SD90s still in operation on a Class 1 Railroad is, if not id
Read more