What do you mean by "plans to replace it"? The equipment was destroyed. They're not going to be ordering any new Talgos just to replace that one set anytime soon. That equipment was lost and now they have slightly less fewer Talgos and one fewer Charger. That's pretty much it.
There's no need to be so smug. I spoke plain simple English. I mean exactly what I asked.
The WSDOT page specifically says Amtrak has committed to replace the lost equipment.
The crash damaged the railroad trestle over Interstate 5 and some signal equipment adjacent to the bridge. Sound Transit, the owner of the facility, will repair this damage and Amtrak has committed to paying for the repairs. Amtrak also has committed to replacing the locomotive and rail cars destroyed in the crash. Amtrak will be technically able to run service on the corridor after repairs are completed, appropriate inspections conducted and permissions granted for operation.
https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Rail/questions-answers-derailment.htm
I sincerely apologize that I came off as smug or sounded like I was belittling your question. I was just trying to say that they don't necessarily need to replace that equipment. The Cascades has been doing fine without that train set for many months, so I was under the impression that they weren't going to replace it.
They are doing fine without the train set and locomotive because they want back to the old 4 trains daily between Seattle and Portland schedule. With the Point Defiance bypass route, the plan is to run 6 daily trains, which requires the 7 trainsets they previously had.
I know I have seen plenty of pictures/videos of Amtrak Superliner cars being used on Cascades services since the derailment, probably at least partly due to the loss of one of the Talgo sets.
I know the 2 Oregon Talgo sets were acquired a number of years before they were really needed, but it helped with maintaining Talgo service during maintenance downtimes. Before the 2 new Oregon Talgo sets, Amtrak Cascades routes were routinely subbed by Amtrak Superliners when a set had to go out of service for maintenance. That was largely eliminated when the two Oregon sets were added.
If/when the service goes to 6x daily like was originally planned, the equipment shortage will become an even bigger issue.
I also know the Siemens Chargers ordered are supposed to fully replace the F59PHI locomotives, yet F59PHIs are still operating, probably due to the loss of one of the locomotive and perhaps maintenance/reliability issues with the Chargers (I'm only speculating on this last point, as in maybe they are suffering from teething problems because they're new).
Either way, the important thing is the lost Talgo set and Siemens Charger locomotive were owned by Washington State, so Amtrak owes some sort of compensation to the State of Washington, whether it is new equipment or financial compensation.
