Dragoman Wrote:
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> I may have missed it if this was disussed before,
> but ...
>
> Would it really take Amtrak that long to add those
> Siemens units onto #6 at Sacramento?
>
> I just seems like such a waste of fuel, crew
> costs, etc. to ship them all the way down to
> Oakland, only to back-track right back to
> Sacramento on their way east.
>
> And, I'm no expert!

Yes, it would take "that" long to add them at Sacramento, what with the removal and reinstallation of HEP cables, the time it would take to do the move in a CTC-controlled environment, air and electrical tests, etc. Oakland has the space and personnel to do the job while the train is in the yard anyway. Since a crew and power is needed to pick up the electrics at the Siemens plant in southeastern Sacramento, it doesn't incur that much additional costs for that crew to make the run to Oakland. And there's no logical reason to base Amtrak power at Sacramento for very occasional moves like this.