New 4,200-horsepower, American-made Siemens Charger locomotives received last year for testing by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) have begun passenger service on Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line. These new locomotives provide passengers with more reliable service while reducing airborne pollutants by 85 percent, all while producing 1,000 more horsepower than the current fleet.
The new locomotives are able to travel farther under electric power than the current fleet of locomotives, the GE P32s, which operate under electric power only in the tunnels in and out of Grand Central Terminal, a distance of four miles. The new locomotives can operate in electric mode the entire 102 miles of Metro-North’s third rail territory, which extends to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line, Southeast on the Harlem Line, and Pelham on the New Haven Line. The new locomotives are compliant with Tier IV of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s vehicle emission standards, significantly improving emissions and noise pollution in densely populated areas across the State of New York.
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