Dual-powered locomotives are nothing new to New York commuter operations. Since the early 1900s, the main concern was diesel emissions inside the tunnels that led to Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station. Metro-North and Amtrak were looking to replace their aging fleet of EMD FL9s with a modern dual-mode diesel. Enter the GE P32AC-DM Genesis Series II locomotive in the late 1990s M-N ordered 30 and Amtrak received 18. P32AC-DM may be a mouthful, but it is an acronym for: Passenger, 3,200 horsepower, Alternating Current, Dual-Mode. The P32AC-DM is the cousin to the similar diesel-only P40 and P42DC passenger locomotives.

Amtraks P32AC-DMs still make their living on Empire Service out of Penn Station to Albany-Rensselear, as well as services to Toronto and Montreal. Metro-Norths fleet continues to travel the entire system, into and out of Grand Central Terminal on M-Ns Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Lines. CDOT owns four, numbered 228-