The three configurations:
Dual-power push/pull in a configuration that, according to Siemens Director of Business Development, Passenger Mobility Systems Steven Morrison, is brand-new technology. As described to Railway Age by Siemens Mobility President, Rolling Stock Michael Cahill, the Charger locomotive is coupled to a powered, pantograph-equipped passenger coach called an APV (Auxiliary Power Vehicle). The APV has an underfloor transformer to handle the Northeast Corridor’s 25kV and 12.5 kV AC catenary power, a 4QS (Four-Quad Chopper), and four powered axles with AC traction motors. The APV is connected to the Charger locomotive with a DC link. In AC catenary mode, the Charger’s diesel engine and traction alternator are shut down; the APV is powering its own four traction motors as well as the four on the Charger, for a total of eight. Siemens calls this “distributed traction.”
Conventional diesel-electric push/pull, with Charger locomotives. There are eight trainsets for Washington State DOT (WashDOT). The order contains only two Charger locomotives, as WashDOT already operates six in Cascades service with Amfleet cars.
Battery-hybrid push/pull trainsets equipped with a Charger locomotive and a Battery Coach with a DC Link but without powered axles. The Battery Coach supplies traction power to the Charger locomotive on routes or locations (such as some stations in non-electrified territory) where diesel emissions are prohibited or restricted, for example, on Empire Service trains originating in Penn Station New York that currently use dual-mode (diesel/third-rail) P32AC-DMs.
Carbody design, which is similar to the Venture coaches for Caltrans, Amtrak Midwest, Brightline and VIA Rail Canada, is based on the Siemens Viaggio Comfort electric trainsets operated by ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railway), according to Steven Morrison.
