The Bombardier ALP-46 is an

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

built in Germany by Bombardier between 2001 and 2002 for use in the United States. It is derived from the German Class 101.

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

(NJT) is the only railroad to operate this locomotive model, which is used across the electrified NJT system, specifically on the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, ...

, North Jersey Coast, Morris & Essex, and Montclair-Boonton lines. These locomotives replaced the

ALP-44 The ABB ALP-44 was an electric locomotive which was built by Asea Brown Boveri of Sweden between 1989 and 1997 for the New Jersey Transit and SEPTA railway lines. Service New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit acquired 32 ALP-44s for use on its ...

locomotives, which were all retired by 2012.

Orders and delivery

NJT ordered 29 locomotives: the first 24 ALP-46 locomotives in December 1999 and an additional five locomotives in September 2001. They were built by Bombardier (formerly ADtranz) at their

Kassel, Germany Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020. ...

plant. The first two locomotives were built as preseries locomotives for testing—4600 was tested on the TTCI test plant in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo () is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 111,876 at the 2020 United States Census, making Pueblo the ninth most popu ...

, 4601 was sent to Kearny for testing on the NJT network. All locomotives were transported via road to the port of Bremen and shipped on Roro-ships of

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Port Elizabeth, New Jersey Port Elizabeth is an unincorporated community located within Maurice River Township in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP code 08348. As of the 2000 United States Census, the ...

. In February 2008, NJT ordered twenty-seven top speed ALP-46A locomotives from Bombardier, which were to haul

Bombardier MultiLevel Coach The Bombardier MultiLevel Coach is a bi-level passenger rail car manufactured by Bombardier for use on commuter rail lines. The first units were delivered in 2006 and deliveries (in various orders) continued to 2014. Overview There are 643 o ...

es. The estimated value of the order was €155 million (approximately $230 million). In June 2009, NJT took up an option for a further nine locomotives, and spare parts, at a cost of $72 million. On November 12, 2009, Bombardier ceremonially handed over the first two completed ALP-46As to New Jersey Transit over at their Kassel plant in Germany. They arrived on NJT property on December 13. Locomotive 4629 was shipped by rail to a testing facility in

, while 4630 was placed on the rails at the Meadows Maintenance Complex in Kearny for testing on property and maintenance training. As of April 5, 2011, all locomotives have been delivered. As of May 7, 2011, all locomotives have entered regular revenue service. In October 2019, as part of New Jersey Transit's 40th Anniversary, locomotive No. 4636 was wrapped into a

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

scheme.

Potential North American clients

Commuter rail operator

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

is considering the use of the ALP-46 for some or all of the operator's current lines. GO Transit has performed a study on electrification of their current diesel operations. However they have shown interest in other locomotives after further consideration.

Variants and operations

Both the ALP-46 and ALP-46A have been used to haul NJ Transit's

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IIM, IV, V, and

Multilevel Multilevel or multi-level may refer to: * A hierarchy, a system where items are arranged in an "above-below" relation. * A system that is composed of several layers. * Bombardier MultiLevel Coach The Bombardier MultiLevel Coach is a bi-leve ...

fleet. The ALP-46 was also used to pull

Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Metroliner electric multiple unit. An in ...

consists on

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

's Clocker service in its final days of operation.An ALP-46 4610 Hauling one of the last Amtrak Clockers

ALP-46

The ALP-46 locomotives produce and are powered by overhead catenary. They can reach a top speed of . The ALP-46 is derived from the

DBAG Class 101 The DB Class 101 is a class of three-phase electric locomotives built by Adtranz and operated by DB Fernverkehr in Germany. 145 locomotives were built between 1996 and 1999 to replace the 30-year-old and aging Class 103 as the flagship of th ...

locomotive, of which the operating speed is . The locomotives use Bombardier's MITRAC 3000 electric propulsion system. The system consists of a

polyol In organic chemistry, a polyol is an organic compound containing multiple hydroxyl groups (). The term "polyol" can have slightly different meanings depending on whether it is used in food science or polymer chemistry. Polyols containing two, thr ...

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides ...

cooled

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

to reduce the catenary voltage which feeds two polyol-ester cooled

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based traction converters (Bombardier MITRAC TC 3100 AC series). Each traction converter feeds the motors (Bombardier MITRAC DR 3700F series) of one

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

ALP-46A

The ALP-46A locomotives use Bombardier's MITRAC 3000 electric propulsion system. The traction converters (Bombardier MITRAC TC 3360 AC series) are from a newer generation based on

IGBT An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily used as an electronic switch, which, as it was developed, came to combine high efficiency and fast switching. It consists of four alternating lay ...

technology. The converters are water cooled and have individual inverters for each traction motor (Bombardier MITRAC DR 3700F series). Power at rail is increased to and top speed is increased to , though NJ Transit limits them to 100.

Images

References

Literature

External links

Bombardier ALP-46(A)

New Jersey Transit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alp-46 Bombardier Transportation locomotives NJ Transit Rail Operations 11 kV AC locomotives 25 kV AC locomotives Bo′Bo′ locomotives Passenger locomotives Electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 2000 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States