West Coast Express Locomotive Refurbishment

in progress

West Coast Express (WCE) is a commuter rail service that runs from Mission to Vancouver, BC. It currently has 6 locomotives and a 7th is being acquired. Each locomotive leads trains of 4-10 cars, capable of holding up to 1,440 passengers. Train occupancy is high, particularly during peak hours, resulting in crowding that lowers satisfaction and limits ridership growth. At least 4 of 10 daily trips have standees and service guidelines are not being met. Locomotives lack auxiliary Head End Power (HEP) to provide full heat and lighting in trains of 8 cars or more under full workloads. The current fleet has no spare locomotive; all 6 are in rotation for revenue service, inspection, and maintenance. The locomotives only meet Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tier 0 or Tier 1 emission standards (modern trains perform at Tier 4). Five locomotives will reach the end of their service life in 2-3 years. Given insufficient HEP and poor performance of an aging fleet, WCE cannot serve current ridership or increase capacity to meet growth. Without WCE, commuters will have to drive, increasing traffic congestion and reducing air quality. The West Coast Express Locomotive Refurbishment project is intended to refurbish 5 existing and 1 acquired locomotive, including by upgrading HEP to serve trains of up to 12 cars (1,728 passengers) at EPA Tier 3 emission standards, and to extend locomotive life by 15 years. It also will upgrade the HEP of an existing 7th locomotive to meet Tier 3 standards. (Note: while EPA Tier 4 is the standard for modern trains, Tier 3 is the best improvement that can be achieved for the existing fleet given available technology.) TransLink proposes to refurbish one locomotive at a time. Each refurbished locomotive will then be tested, commissioned, and enter service to release another locomotive for rehabilitation. This will also require temporary rental of one replacement locomotive to maintain the operational cycle of the fleet while the project is underway.