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#5129

Bombardier–Alstom HHP-8

🇺🇸 United States ·built by ALSTOM Transportation Germany· from 1999· locomotive class

⚡ electric locomotive electric ✓ in service
10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
  1. 1. MARC 438 (14833026066): Ryan Stavely· CC BY-SA 2.0
  2. 2. 20000308 01 Amtrak Race St. Yard, Philadelphia, PA: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA· CC BY 2.0
  3. 3. 20030702 06 Amtrak Trenton, NJ (5995178308): David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA· CC BY 2.0
  4. 4. Acela Regional in Boston South Station: Peter Van den Bossche from Mechelen, Belgium· CC BY-SA 2.0
  5. 5. Amtrak HHP-8 653 leads Train 93 into Trenton: AEMoreira042281· CC BY-SA 3.0
  6. 6. Hhp8-diesel-bos1: Lexcie· CC BY-SA 3.0
  7. 7. Silver Meteor (8983001862): Ryan Stavely· CC BY-SA 2.0
  8. 8. MARC 4911 (14669332360) (cropped): Ryan Stavely· CC BY-SA 2.0
  9. 9. MARC 4911 (14669332360): Ryan Stavely· CC BY-SA 2.0
  10. 10. Philly Train Trip 5 (8123518283): Ryan Stavely· CC BY-SA 2.0
Read about it on Wikipedia ↗
Bombardier–Alstom HHP-8, photo 1 of 10
1/10 Ryan Stavely· CC BY-SA 2.0

what is it?

The Bombardier–Alstom HHP-8 (High Horse Power 8000) is a twin-cab electric locomotive built for Amtrak and MARC by a consortium of Bombardier and Alstom. Its electrical system was based on Alstom's BB 36000 locomotive. Due to a limited number of locomotives produced and reliability issues leading to high maintenance costs, Amtrak retired all its HHP-8s after only 15 years of service.

who runs it

AmtrakMARC

base stats

  • speed 217 km/htop speed
  • power 6 MWpower output
  • weight 101 tin working order
  • built 21made in total

Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.

fun facts

  • First built 27 years ago, in 1999.
  • Top speed is 1.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
  • At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 11 minutes.
  • 6 MW is about 71 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
  • Weighs about as much as 17 African elephants (~6 t each).
  • 20.4 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.

electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.

spec sheet

built
1999–2001
retired
2014
status
in service
number built
21
kind
Electric
traction
electric
origin
🇺🇸 United States
builders
ALSTOM Transportation Germany, Alstom
operators
Amtrak, MARC
top speed
217 km/h
power
6 MW
gauge
1,435 mm standard gauge
electric system
Overhead line:, 3 Amtrak's 60 Hz traction power system, 25 kV 60 Hz AC, 3 Electrification of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad…
wheel arrangement
Bo’Bo’
length
20.4 m
weight
101 t
nicknames
Hippos

From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.

Sources: Wikidata Q721652, Wikipedia: Bombardier–Alstom HHP-8 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.

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