Credit to @trainman900 These locomotives are being ordered in an effort to replace the temporary SD70 Spartan cab fleets. 50 of these will be ordered. The older engines will be replaced by T4 engines on all of them. Once the order of these trains are received from progressrail, they will be tested and come into service. The replaced SD70 Spartan Cab locomotives will be sent to ELI to be rebuilt as passenger locomotives, and then sent to Ziptransit. It will be rebuilt similarly to how Ziptransit's GP40s were rebuilt. It will have a QSK-19 generator for HEP. Unlike the GP40PH-3C which was recently introduced as a backup locomotive, the SD70 will be used for revenue since it's engine can produce 4,000 HP as opposed to the 3,000 HP on the GP40s. Giving the SD70 standard cab units to Ziptransit was railroad soupcan's original plan, but they needed them. Railroad Soupcan will use the new SD70M-2s in place of the sold SD70s.
