Budd SPV-2000

The Budd SPV-2000 was a self-propelled diesel railcar that the Budd Company built between 1978 and 1981 for North American commuter railroads. It was designed as a successor to the popular Rail Diesel Car but used a body shell very similar to the Amfleet coach, which was itself based on the Metroliner electric multiple unit. Budd announced the design in 1976 and unveiled the first car in Philadelphia on February 9, 1978; the standard car had an operator cab at each end and 86 seats, and Budd said that SPV stood for Special Purpose Vehicle. Budd built 31 cars, of which it sold 30 to the Federal Railroad Administration, the Moroccan state railways ONCF, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York. The cars proved mechanically unreliable, earned the nickname Seldom Powered Vehicles, and Amtrak withdrew its leased Connecticut cars in January 1986.