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Originally Posted by ardecila
It's unclear exactly what Wisconsin is buying. It says "train sets" but does that include the locomotives, or "head units", as Talgo calls them, or just the passenger cars?
Talgo America's website announces that the Wisconsin cars will be called "Type XXI Lakeliner" trains. Since there is no description under this name, it's unclear whether this represents a whole new type of cars for them, or merely a rebranding of an existing type.
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Just the passenger cars! They will probably be based on Talgo series VIII, which are already FRA compliant at speeds up to 125 to 150 mph with two disc brakes per axle, and to 220 mph with three disc brakes per axle.
http://www.talgoamerica.com/series8-passengerCars.aspx
Talgo's branded diesel locomotive is FRA compliant and capable of speeds up to 125 mph. But Amtrak's P-42 Genesis diesel locomotives are already capable of 110 mph maximum speeds. So there's no need to buy more diesel locomotives, as the existing P-42s powering the existing Hiawatha trains will suffice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_Genesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiawatha_Service
Hiawatha is the name of an 86 mile train route operated by Amtrak on the western shore of Lake Michigan, although the name was historically applied to several different routes that extended across the Midwest and out to the Pacific Ocean. As of 2007, fourteen trains (seven round-trips, six on Sunday) run daily between Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, making intermediate stops in Glenview, Illinois, Sturtevant, Wisconsin, and General Mitchell International Airport. The line is partially supported by funds from the state governments of Wisconsin and Illinois. The service carries about 624,000 passengers annually. It is one of the most heavily-used routes in the entire Amtrak system, aside from rail lines on the United States North East and in California. A one-way trip between Milwaukee and Chicago takes about 90 minutes (Amtrak's schedule actually reads 89 minutes).
Therefore, today the Hiawatha averages 57.3 mph between Chicago and Milwaukee. They may save some time, a few minutes at most, with the new Talgo tilting cars in track curves. The real savings will come when they can increase maximum speeds to 110 mph as track and signal work is completed to support that higher speed.
By the way, $47 million for two 14 car trainsets comes at just less than $1.7 million per car.