Amtrak has 6 EMD F59PHI's for the Amtrak Cascades trains. The Washington DOT ordered 8 Chargers from Siemens. Does this mean the Amtrak Cascades F59PHI's are going to be replaced?
And is it likely that Amtrak Cascades will get more trainsets?
Basically, yes, they are being replaced. It is possible that they will stay in Cascades service, but according to WSDOT, they are owned by Amtrak, so it's up to Amtrak to decide. WSDOT has stated that they would like to buy the two cancelled "Hiawatha" talgos, but the funding just doesn't exist.
I thought Michigan had planned to buy those two Talgo sets.
Yeah I heard they were at one point. I have a feeling they'll end up in the northwest eventually ...
Gov Snyder of Michigan wanted to buy them, but politics delayed that. And Talgos have, um, idiosyncrasies, and require certain maintenance facilities and a dedicated team of mechanics. iirc the facility was going to cost $30 million or so, which further delayed that. Meanwhile Gov Snyder is neck deep in lead-poisoned Flint water and now his clout to get multi-million $ appropriations thru the legislature is surely diminished.
I expect the Talgo trains to remain parked at Beech Grove for a good while more. They ain't going anywhere until Washington, Oregon, or even British Columbia come up with the funds. There's no other bidder in sight, so Washington DOT can dawdle.
Of course, next year there will be more runs of the
Cascades Seattle-Portland (6 frequencies up from 4 -- plus the
Coast Starlight). The added departures, a few minutes saved on the trip time, delays slashed and on time performance much improved, the
Cascades will look much better. Then, since nothing succeeds like success, it will easier to come up with funds to buy the spare Talgos.
But once the Chargers are delivered, I can't see the older locomotives staying around. If the
Cascades need more Chargers sooner than planned, I'd expect Siemens could sell them a few.
Only so many Talgo trainsets can be used, however, unless and until the route gets another Billion or so in upgrades. The Stimulus provided $850 million or more for the current round of upgrades. But there's another To-Do list before any more trains can squeeze onto this crowded corridor. Meanwhile the "Hiawatha" Talgos perhaps could be put to work on added runs Seattle-Vancouver, B.C and Portland-Eugene. But the bulk of the
Cascades' riders and revenue is and will be on that main trunk Seattle-Portland.