Trains article on it: [www.trains.com]

First one goes to San Bernardino for use on the Redlands line starting in 2024. So it's already sold. That line almost makes sense for it - 9 miles long, so it can run all day on a single fillup.

The prospect of them on Amtrak makes less sense, with a 300 mile range. They'll be making a 20 minute stop every hour or 2 for fueling. Not great, even in the California corridors. Now on SMART...

The DMUs SBd is opening the line with in 2022-23 are all Tier 4, so they're pretty clean to start with. IIRC SMART's DMUs are Tier 4 also, as are, probably, BART's (which are very similar to SMART's).

Are the DMUs on the NCTD Sprinter line (Escondido Branch) Tier 4, or are they old enough to be Tier 2 or 3 diesel? If the latter, upgrades might be worth considering if somebody has free money available.