Electro-Motive Division AEM-7

The AEM-7 is an electric passenger locomotive built for use in the USA that was based on the Swedish Rc4. It was designed in the seventies when Amtrak realized that the GE E60 was no high-speed replacement for the PRR GG1 and the Metroliner EMUs did not fulfill all requirements. They were built by EMD with a body made by Budd and had received their electric part from ASEA. Later batches had their bodies built in Austria. They weighed less than half of the E60, but were more powerful with 7,000 hp and were faster with 125 mph or 201 km/h.

Amtrak ordered a total of 54 in three batches and used them on the Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Corridor. They could operate on all three power systems in use on these lines and could offer “Metroliner” services with the same schedules as the EMUs of this name. Further orders from MARC and SEPTA brought the total to 65. Between 1999 and 2002, Amtrak rebuilt 29 AEM-7 to three-phase traction motors and IGBT control with the help of Alstom, while the HHP-8 built by Bombardier and Alstom was no success. Between 2014 and 2016, all AEM-7 in Amtrak service were replaced by Siemens ACS-64. Also the two other operators retired them in the following two years.