The Southeastern Pennslyvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) plans to spend $154 million on 18 new regional rail locomotives; replacing eight aging engines currently in operation.
If the purchase is approved by SEPTA’s board, the locomotives will be delivered by 2018. The new engines will service the Lansdale-Doylestown, Paoli-Thorndale, Trenton, and Wilmington-Newark lines and add capacity to other regional lines.
The purchase would consist of 13 “Cities Sprinter” ACS-64 locomotives to be built by the Siemens Industry Inc. at its factory in Sacramento, Calif. The locomotives are the biggest rail purchase by SEPTA since the authority bought 120 new Silverliner V railcars for $274 million in 2006.
The new SEPTA locomotives are part of the transit authority’s increased spending plan for new vehicles and transportation construction, which is projected to reach $535 million in the fiscal year starting July 1.
In addition to the new locomotives, SEPTA will buy 525 hybrid buses over five years. And it will soon begin the process of procuring 45 bi-level railcars to increase capacity on the Regional Rail lines.
