The Metra Board of Directors approved the purchase of up to 21 used F59PHI locomotives for USD 1.3 million each. This will allow Metra to quickly supplement its locomotive fleet while continuing a longer-term procurement of additional, new or remanufactured locomotives. The F59 locomotives will not replace the engines to be purchased under the request for proposals launched in late 2017.
These 21 F59 locomotives were most recently used on the West Coast by Amtrak. The engines will become available this year as Amtrak switches to a new Siemens locomotive. The F59 purchase will be funded with money already set aside for locomotive purchases or other capital needs and/or through financing.
The F59PHIs, which were built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in 1998 and have been rehabilitated within the last five years, have similar parts and operating characteristics to Metra’s existing fleet of EMD F40s, some of which are 35 years old and are in need of overhaul. That means they can be integrated into the Metra system quickly and without extensive and expensive training of maintenance and operating crews. The F59s would also increase reliability, reduce pollution and achieve fuel savings of about 10 percent to 25 percent over the older engines.
“Ideally Metra would have sufficient funding to replace older locomotives with new ones on a regular basis. However, Metra has been underfunded for years and we have to work with the funding we have available. We believe this purchase represents a great opportunity to make a big impact on our operations at a reasonable expense, and that’s why we are pursuing this purchase,” said Metra Executive Director Jim Derwinski.
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