Amtrak Cascades Previews New Siemens Charger Locomotives

On Monday, Amtrak Cascades showed off one of their new Siemens-designed locomotives via Twitter, which are set to undergo testing. The first Siemens SC-44 Charger locomotives began certification testing last year at the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado after the initial batch rolled off the Siemens production floor in Sacramento, California. The new Amtrak Cascades locomotives are headed to the same Colorado facility. A total of eight such locomotives have been ordered by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to operate their growing Amtrak Cascades passenger rail services between Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland, Oregon. The first locomotives are expected to start running on Northwest rails soon to serve existing scheduled service and provide capacity to add two extra roundtrips between Seattle and Portland.