They are scheduled for replacement in a triple-agency procurement of dual-mode locos for LIRR, MNRR, and NYSDOT for
Empire service that'll simultaneously replace the P32AC-DM's. At least 75 units to be spread between the agencies, with an RFP that needs to be issued within 2 years to start the process rolling. That knocks out all the DM30AC's. The
PRIAA documents for next-gen dual-mode engines on the
Empire have reams of specs, so it's very well-known what technically they are looking for as the MNRR and LIRR engines will be identical to the
Empire ones. In short: 110 MPH in diesel mode / minimum 80 MPH in E-mode, Tier 4 emissions compliance, 1000 kW HEP output (same as a Charger, and the max allowable by North American HEP cables), universal shoes for compatibility with over- and under-running third rail, equally-capable diesel and E-mode so all of third rail territory can be covered in E-mode not just the terminals, and battery storage in E-mode to prevent gapping (enough to pull a max-size consist 250 ft. @ 5 MPH, and to cover that distance out of a dead stop).
DE30AC's are supposed to be replaced simultaneously because they're at equal replacement age as the DM's, but it's not known how that's going to be handled in the order. Options include:
-- Separate procurement under separate RFP for straight diesels.
-- Simultaneous procurement under same RFP for a portion of the units to be straight-diesel. Since Siemens bid a dual-mode version of the Charger for the NYSDOT Request for Information (i.e. the pre- pre- bid documents to ascertain technical feasibility) 4 years ago, a single-source contract could easily portion out dual-mode Chargers vs. vanilla diesel Chargers from the same factory delivery to cover LIRR's split.
-- One procurement for all dual-modes, no straight-diesels. Because the size of the triple-agency order is going to be 75 minimum, there's already a lot of unit scale there keeping the unit prices down. The DE30AC replacements would be a much smaller fleet, so a decision to up the order to 90-100 duals (possibly even displacing the Upper-Harlem BL20GH's to Connecticut ownership so the MTA has one loco make to rule all) could price out attractively. Note that despite the higher unit cost of a dual, this is attractive because they can order the dual-mode make...but leave the E-mode compartment blank for the portion of the fleet that's only needed for pure diesel territory. That way they don't spend obscenely more than they need to for engines that aren't running to Penn...but have the option to convert them into full duals later by buying an E-mode module and plugging the empty compartment. And...can salvage E-mode modules from wrecked or long-term OOS duals, plug into one of the units delivered without E-mode, and re-claim a dual. There would be higher overall costs to going this route, but depending on how it technically scores the advantages could be compelling enough to go for it.
We don't know enough yet about how this is going to unfold to speculate on how they're going to apportion the order to handle the DE30AC replacements...other than both fleets of EMD's are definitely planned for retirement at the same time. Albany's still sabre-rattling about wanting more fed money, and obviously there's still some questions on how much above-and-beyond quantities each agency's going to need/want beyond the straight 1:1 replacements. MNRR Penn Station Access on the Hudson/Empire Connection side also looms here, as they'll need an outright expansion of their dual-mode roster in order to initiate that service in the lifespan of the next vehicles.
What we do know are who the bidders were on the earlier RFI: Siemens, with a Charger-based dual; Bombardier, with a third-rail version of the ALP-45DP; and MPI, with a dual-ified HSP-46. The RFI is old enough that MPI is almost certainly out of the mix, since the HSP-46 turned into a giant lemon and the company nearly killed itself trying to get that MBTA delivery done in one piece. And the Charger is now a shipping product, so Siemens has been able to put a lot more R&D into the dual-mode Charger derivative and can probably bid it clean. Since nobody else even sniffed at the RFI, that means it's pretty much Siemens vs. Bombardier with no dark horses looming in the background. With significant advantage for Siemens because: 1) they're so heavily embedded with Amtrak the
Empire portion of the order is going to get heavy favoritism from the feds barking in NYSDOT's ear; 2) their dual is proposed to use the same QSK-95 conventional prime mover as the diesel Charger, unlike the ALP which has to use extremely problematic and performance-inefficient gensets to make weight; 3) no need to draft up a separate straight-diesel procurement for the DE30AC replacements as vanilla Chargers can be tacked onto the same contract, while Bombardier doesn't even make a straight-diesel "ALP45-D" (and if they did it would probably have the same crap gensets as the DP).