On the evening of February 27th, 2023, Amtrak Extra 847 was tasked with towing six Metro-North/ CDOT Kawasaki M8 railcars from New Haven to Long Island Rail Road's Arch Street Shops via New York Pennsylvania Station. The train consisted of Amtrak GE P42 #87 followed by M8 railcars 9420/9421,9702/9703,9430/9431 which were operated in test service by the LIRR/Amtrak in anticipation of future Metro-North service between New Rochelle and New York Penn Station.

Kawasaki M8 railcars are unable to utilize the 12.5kv 25hz catenary used on the Northeast Corridor from the GATE Interlocking (located just east/north of Harold Interlocking and west/south of the Hell Gate Bridge) to Washington Union Station. They are, however able to run on BOTH MNR (underrunning) and LIRR (overrunning) third rail using dual sided collector shoes and a spring mechanism that automatically adjusts for both heights. This was successfully tested back in 2016 with M8 pair 9160/61 at LIRR's Hillside Facility in Queens, NY. MTA and Amtrak Empire Corridor Charger locomotives will be equipped with the same technology in the future. The train pictured was towed by a diesel because LIRR's third rail has yet to be extended a little over a mile between Harold Interlocking and GATE Interlocking to bridge the existing "power gap". Once this is done (and properly tested), M8s will be able to run on their own for Penn Station Access service.