The EMD DE30AC and DM30AC are a class of 46 locomotives built between 1997–1999 by

Electro-Motive Division Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motiv ...

in the Super Steel Plant in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

, for the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

of the

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(MTA) in New York. Originally divided equally between the two types, the fleet currently consists of 24 DE30AC locomotives (diesel power only) and 20 DM30AC locomotives (diesel or third rail power).

Details

The DE30AC and DM30AC locomotives replaced aging GP38 locomotives, with GP38s used to

push and pull Push may refer to: * A type of force applied to an object Music * Mike Dierickx (born 1973), a Belgian producer also known as Push Albums * ''Push'' (Bros album), 1988 * ''Push'' (Gruntruck album), 1992 * ''Push'' (Jacky Terrasson album), 201 ...

diesel trains and other locomotives converted into power packs (cab control) used to provide

head-end power In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, ...

for the trains. The bodies of the DE30AC and the DM30AC are extremely similar; the difference is the ability of the DM30AC to use electric third rail while the diesel engine is off, enabling the locomotive to use the East River Tunnels into

New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station (also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station) is the main intercity railroad station in New York City and the busiest transportation facility in the Western Hemisphere, serving more than 600,000 passengers ...

. This permits direct service from non-electrified lines in eastern Long Island via the western electrified main lines all the way to Penn Station. A few such trains a day run on the

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, Montauk, and Oyster Bay branches, usually during peak times. Due to their height, the DE30AC and DM30AC locomotives, as well as the C3 bilevel railcars that they typically haul, cannot fit through the

63rd Street Tunnel The 63rd Street Tunnel is a double-deck subway and railroad tunnel under the East River between the Borough of New York City, boroughs of Manhattan and Queens in New York City. Opened in 1989, it is the newest of the East River tunnels, as we ...

, and are thus unable to serve Grand Central Madison station. Single engines run with six cars or fewer, in which case the engine is on the east end of the train and a C3 cab car is on the west (Manhattan-facing) end. Generally, two engines are used when there are seven or more cars. Running in electric mode requires two DM30ACs per train regardless of train length.

Accidents

* DM30AC 503 was damaged in an accident at Huntington on October 23, 2000, when a defective shoe beam caused a 750-volt

short circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...

with the locomotive's

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...

contact shoe, which in turn caused the locomotive to catch fire. It sat in the LIRR's Morris Park Facility and had been stripped for spare parts to maintain the remainder of the fleet until July 2018, when it was scrapped. * DM30AC 511 was damaged in an accident on May 25, 2019. It hit a 14-unit long train stopped at the siding east of Speonk station, which is 13 units long; this caused the locomotive to lose a third rail shoe and sustain frame damage. It is now sitting in the Morris Park Facility, most likely to be used for parts before being scrapped. In addition, DM30AC 507 suffered an electrical cabinet failure. Unlike 503 and 511, it was salvaged by being converted into a DE30AC locomotive, renumbered to 423, and returned to service.

Planned replacement

In December 2020, the

of New York board approved a

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

-funded $335 million contract for 27 dual-mode locomotives, based on the Siemens Charger design. The order also includes additional options for up to 144 more locomotives, of which 66 could go to the LIRR. As a part of the Long Island Railroad's Capital Program, the railroad is exercising Option 3 of the previously awarded contract to order up to 44 new dual-mode locomotives, which would likely replace the older DE30AC and DM30AC locomotives.

Gallery

Image:Eastbound train leaving Hunterspoint Avenue station, September 2018.JPG, DE30AC #401 Image:LIRR EMD DM30AC 515 pushing Train 8054.jpg, DM30AC #515 Image:LIRR513Cab.jpg, The cab of engine #513 Image:The_Third_Rail_conductor_shoe_on_DM30AC_-514._(June_2024).jpg, Third rail conductor shoe on DM30AC #514. Image:LIRR503August2011.jpg, The remnants of engine #503 Image:LIRR503StrippedCab.jpg, The cab of engine #503

References

External links