In parallel to the Acela high speed train set ordered for the North East Corridor, Amtrak also needed a fast new locomotive for regular passenger trains in the late nineties. The GE E60 was already getting old and the AEM-7 was also too outdated to restart production. As the Acela was built by Bombardier and Alstom, the new locomotive was also ordered from these two companies. They based it on Alstom's BB 36000 in service in France and increased its output by 500 to 8,000 hp. At the same time, the weight was increased by more than twelve metric tonnes to comply with American crash-worthiness standards. The design of the body was changed to look similar to the Acela. It is equipped for all three AC power systems in use on the NEC and has a design speed of 135 mph or 217 km/h. However, the line required a limitation to 125 mph or 201 km/h in service.

The new locomotive was called HHP-8 for “High Horse Power 8000” and 21 were delivered between 1999 and 2001. Only 15 of these went to Amtrak. These were retired as early as in 2014 and 2015 due to the small number of the class, their insufficient reliability and the high maintenance costs. Their replacement was the Siemens ACS-64 and several years later, some were rebuilt into cab cars. The second user of the HHP-8 is MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter), which received six and also operate them on the North East Corridor. These have been refurbished in 2017 and 2018 and are still in service.