NJ Transit to NOT Overhaul Diesel Locomotives

[ns3010]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/nj_transit_spends_6m_on_diesel.html

Rather than getting an overhaul, NJT's diesel fleet, ranging in age from 20 to 5 years old (since most recent rebuild/build, 4205 and 4213 excluded), will continue to be maintained at the Meadows Maintence Complex in Kearny, NJ.
They're spending $6M on a system that will detect problems before they occur. Supposedly, this is going to help squeeze 8-10 more years out of the life of the locos. Yeah, sure...

How much you wanna bet that this will fail completly and throw another $6M of the state's money down the drain?

[Phoebe Vet]

I don't know anything about locomotive required scheduled maintenance, but according to the news release, it cost $3M to do a scheduled overhaul on one engine and they have over 100 engines.  $6M for the implementation of the new system seems like a reasonable gamble.  If it is successful and eliminates 2 scheduled overhauls it has paid for itself.  If not then it has increased the maintenance expense by only 2%.

[oltmannd]

Grail hunt. They think they've found it? Like to know how the $6M was calculated....

[ns3010]

 $3M per loco seems like way too much. At that price, the overhaul of one unit would be able to buy 3/4 of a brand new PL42AC...

Let's see:

33 PL42ACs
13 GP40PH-2s
13 F40PH-2CATs (including those in Canada. there were 17, but 4 were recently sold to Metro-North)
  9 GP40FH-2s (including those in Canada)
  5 GP40PH-2As
20 GP40PH-2Bs
  4 P40DCs
=
97

Now take out the PL42s (way too new for an overhaul) and two of the GP40PH-2Bs that just came back from a rebuild a two months ago, the P40DCs that were just purchased from Amtrak (I believe they received an overhaul?), and don't include the Metro-North locos and the non-revenue MP20B-3s and GP40-2s.
So this leaves 58 locos. But teh F40s should also be fine for now (they're only about 11-12 years old). So make that 55 locos.

With the dual modes coming in 2011, some may not need a rebuild, as they will possibly be retired.

Still not buying that this is anything close to worth it. The only other thing I've heard is that the system will be from Alstrom. Since I don't know of any "Alstrom," I'm going to assume that they meant "Alstom."
If this is true, and if you know the saga of the Comet Vs and PL42ACs (built by Alstom), then you can only imagine what will happen. Although the CVs and PL42s are MUCH more reliable now...

[trainfan1221]

 The F40s have been rebuilt with head end generators a while back, but they are actually about 25 years old.  They were around when the Harriman to Middletown Main Line was still in existence and made the Port Jervis run on there. Although there were an extra bunch with an odd numbering system that were in Hoboken for a while, then I saw them in Altoona of all places.  No idea what the story with them is.  The PL42s, I suspect, already cost NJT its share of money due to initial problems. 

  I saw about this on the local news but it just said they were alotted  $6M for diesel locomotive maintenance.  Thanks for some more details. As long as the original GP40PH units are still around then part of the Jersey Central is still alive. Lets keep it that way.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

oltmannd

Grail hunt. [snip]

  Huh ?  ''G-rail hunt'' ?  What do large-scale models have to do with prototype diesel overhauls . . . ?

Oh . . .  . . . now I get it - ''search for the Holy Grail'', like.    Late in the week for such subtle humor . . .

- PDN.

[ns3010]

I was talking about since the original build (in some cases), but mostly the most recent rebuild.

As for those other F40PHs (200, 300, and 400 series, IIRC), I believe they were leased a few years back. They were sent to Altoona (in NJT paint) when they were returned. I'm not sure about the status of those now, though.

And I agree. As long as the old CNJ geeps are still alive, I don't care!

[pajrr]

Speaking of the CNJ GP40s, I live along the former Erie / Erie-Lackawanna Bergen County Line. One of the CNJ Geeps went through with the EL logo drawn in the mud on the unit! It's good to see that some people out there in the industry do still  care about history. I have come across many that don't.

[Dakguy201]

$3 mil to overhaul each locomotive?  I'm having a very hard time with that number.  After all, that is in the same price range as a brand new freight locomotive.  While I can appreciate different features are needed for passenger service, the comparison remains valid in my mind.

Also, if an overhaul is avoided, are there any savings other than the parts not replaced?  Specifically, does it cause a decrease in service facilites or personnel?  I have my doubts.

Finally, this is New Jersey, which has the reputation for graft on a scale not encountered elsewhere.  One wonders just how much of the $6 mil purchase price leaks into the hands of the Agency's people.   

[aegrotatio]

Pajrr, it's funny, but maybe likely, that the reasons the old Erie Main Line was abandoned by Metro North in favor of the freight bypass because those Geeps were so incredibly loud even idling at station stops.  I vividly remember my lungs thundering as they stopped in Ramsey, NJ, and as they nearly clobbered our disabled car on the tracks nearby on another occasion.  Thundering through Glen Rock, Radburn, and Fair Lawn reminds me even more of their immense noise.  They were amazingly loud locomotives.  I dare suggest that without the Geeps the historically important Main Line between Harriman and Middletown might still exist, but then there are several grade crossing to deal with, and the freight bypass was there already to take the traffic, even if it meant commuters needed to drive to park-and-ride lots out of town to take the train.

 

[trainfan1221]

The Main Line wasn't wanted by Metro North, and I recall grade crossings being one of the issues.  I remember a car being hit in Goshen by a detouring freight train while the Graham Line was being upgraded. 

I think the engines you are referring to with the noise are the U34CHs, not the Geeps.  They ran at a constant speed so were always in run 6, I believe. They were also the regular engines on the Main Line.  The F40s also ran there in their earlier days before the line was abandoned. I never got to ride this line beyond Chester Station but wish I could have at least once.

[aegrotatio]

 Hmm.  Maybe so but they were gray engines, not blue.  Still too loud.

 

[trainfan1221]

Aside from a freight engine possibly, the U34CH and F40s were the only locomotives on the main line in the last years, And the RDC rail cars. But I do believe that there could have been noise issues, parts of the Main line were close to neighborhoods if I recall.