NSDash9 reports that Norfolk Southern and GE have made an agreement to rebuild 500 more of NS's Dash9-44C and -44CW units into AC44C6M's. They will do 100 per year with the units allocated 50 to GE and 50 to NS's Roanoke and Juniata shops. The rebuilds done by GE in 2016 were all done in Erie, but the 2017 rebuilds have been Ft. Worth so I would imagine these rebuilds will go to the Ft. Worth plant as well. The program is scheduled to run 2018-2022 and the rebuilt units will be go into the same 4xxx series as the previous one being numbered from 4075-4574.
People have noted that this range overlaps the numbers assigned to the OCS F units so expectations are that they will be renumbered at some point.
At this time, NS has 52 Dash9-44C units active on the roster. It is expected they will all be rebuilt in 2018 with another 48 units coming from the -44CW wide cabs roster to fill out the 100 for the year. Wide cabs will also be replaced with that used on the AC44C6M rebuilds due to the updated safety ratings on the new cabs.
Two Dash9-44C's have also been sent to CAF for rebuilding. These units will be nearly the same, but some replacement parts will be non-GE. These will be designated AC44C6CF (CF for CAF specs).
