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Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang
^ I don't know much about the different types (except what you just told me!), but wouldn't it be more efficient to either order the new cars with the similar couple as the existing ones, or retrofit the old ones to be able to pair with the new ones? There isn't much that you can do about the AC vs. DC issue though.
And then we'll have the low-floor trains for the SE line that won't be able to run anywhere on the existing system. It sort of seems that we're getting a variety of incompatible types of trains. Wouldn't it be more efficient to try and standardize things a little bit?
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I believe the issue with the coupler difference is that the new ones have pins for the video feed (due to the side mirrors being replaced by cameras), whereas the old ones don't. I think the speculation was that the older SD160s might be able to run in a consist where the newer SD160 is "enslaved" by the other two cars and runs as the middle (belly) car in the consist. They do this in one of the configurations of the AC U2/SD160 mix I think, and also for things like towing cars in the yard, etc.
If it came down to it, the coupling difference doesn't seem so big that they couldn't rig something up or maybe retrofit some old ones to make it work. As it is, I don't think all the proprietary car types would make a huge headache for scheduling and operations. It would mostly be a matter of planning and maintenance.
As far as adding another type of train (low-floor), I think the bigger issue becomes maintenance and interchangeability of parts. If they go with something like the Siemens S70, this would help a lot because it is basically an SD160 just with a lower door and interior floor height.
Anyway, that might all sound convoluded, but I'm going off of whatever second-hand information I've cobbled together.