Bombardier–Alstom HHP-8

Background

Amtrak took over most private intercity passenger rail in the United States on May 1, 1971. Its core route was the Northeast Corridor, a 457 mi line from Washington, D.C., to Boston, Massachusetts, via New York City. Electrification ran from Washington through New York to New Haven, Connecticut, with diesel locomotives handling the remaining 157 mi to Boston.

In the 1990s Amtrak rebuilt and electrified that segment as part of the Acela Express project. The extension required additional electric locomotives for conventional trains east of New Haven, as neither the EMD AEM-7 nor the GE E60 were still in production. Amtrak selected Bombardier and Alstom, the Acela Express builders, to produce a visually-similar derivative for conventional service.

History

Amtrak ordered 15 HHP-8s in 1996 alongside its Acela Express trainsets, with completion between 1999 and 2001. The units supplemented the AEM-7s and allowed retirement of the GE E60. Amtrak leased the locomotives from Philip Morris Capital rather than purchasing them outright. The original type designation HHL-8 was later changed to HHP-8.

MARC also acquired six HHP-8s for its Penn Line service along the Northeast Corridor between Perryville and Washington, DC. Amtrak operated its HHP-8s on the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, DC, each accumulating about 1,000,000 miles by 2009. In 2002 the entire fleet was temporarily withdrawn due to cracks in truck components. Low reliability led Amtrak to consider replacement after only a decade, and in October 2010 it ordered 70 Siemens ACS-64 locomotives to replace both the HHP-8 and the AEM-7.

Amtrak retired its last HHP-8 on February 9, 2015; all units are stored, renumbered 680–694 to avoid duplication with ACS-64 units 650–664. Philip Morris sued Amtrak in 2019 over alleged cannibalization of eight locomotives for parts, settling in 2021 with undisclosed terms. In 2023 Amtrak began testing a converted HHP-8 as a cab car, designated HHP-8C.

Design

The HHP-8 measures 67 ft long by 10 ft wide and stands 14 ft tall from the rail to the locomotive roof, excluding pantographs. It is 16 ft longer than the AEM-7 but shorter than the E60. The locomotive weighs 220000 lb and has a stainless steel carbody with a 6 MJ crash energy absorbance structure.

It operates at three voltages: 25 kV 60 Hz AC (Boston–New Haven), 12.5 kV 60 Hz AC (New Haven–New York), and 12 kV 25 Hz AC (New York–Washington). The traction system, derived from Alstom's BB 36000 Astride, uses four 1.5 MW three-phase asynchronous traction motors powered by GTO-based inverters, one per motor, with regenerative and rheostatic braking. Designed for 135 mph, the locomotives are limited to 125 mph per Federal Railroad Administration Tier 1 standards.