🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello.

The subject of electrification of Metrolink has come up ocasionally and
San Francisco's Peninsula line will probably be electrified within a few
years.  When this is done, new locomotives will have to be bought.  Has
the decision been made as to what model to buy for San Francisco?

While I realize that the E60C has its short-comings, it did do a fairly
respectable job of getting cars and their passenger loads from Point A
to Point B on the Northeast Corridor (as far as I know at least, we
haven't heard of it blowing a traction motor every other month)..
Compare that idea with Ford's tire debacle with Firestone, and the E60C
comes out shining better than an industrial grade diamond in my
opinion.  Correct me if I am wrong, but this is better than the SD45-2
and its trucks derailing.  Now if the E60C has the same trucks, then the
ballgame changes.

Now to the nitty-gritty: Have a;ll the Mexican E60Cs been sold (they
were returned to the US, apparently, last year; there were 20 left
unsold in August of last year)?  The way I hear it, there were six
wrecked for various reasons -- it appears (although I don't have any of
the details) that none of the accidents were due to on-board mechanical
problems.  Would the idea of using some (or all) of those units for the
time being -- while the system absorbs some of the
electrification-related costs -- not have some advantages?  On the other
hand, how long would the project take?  Would there be any advantage in
that at all?  What I am thinking is that they might -- I emphasize
"might" -- be a way of spreading equipment acquisition cost over time.

Any thoughts?