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SEPTA plans to spend $154 million on new locomotives

SEPTA plans to spend up to $154 million for 18 new Regional Rail locomotives, the authority's biggest railroad acquisition in a decade.

The electric locomotives would replace eight aging engines operating on the Lansdale-Doylestown, Paoli-Thorndale, Trenton, and Wilmington-Newark lines, and add capacity to other regional lines.

The SEPTA board is expected to approve the purchase on Thursday, with the locomotives to be delivered in 2018.

SEPTA is buying 13 "Cities Sprinter" ACS-64 locomotives to be built by Siemens Industry Inc., the German conglomerate, at its factory in Sacramento, Calif. The price includes an option for five additional locomotives.

The ACS-64 is the same locomotive Amtrak is buying for use on the Northeast Corridor. One of the first new Amtrak locomotives, which was put into service in early 2014, was involved in the deadly derailment on May 12 at Frankford Junction in Port Richmond. The train wreck killed eight people and injured 200 passengers.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...4wKcaKh2KxU.99