NS, Progress Rail Introduce New ECO Unit

The first GP34ECO locomotive built for yard and intermediate operations has been introduced by Progress Rail and Norfolk Southern.

The unit meets Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 emission standards and is intended to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent compared with older locomotives.

The prototype GP35ECO is undergoing testing for EPA certification.

It has a 3,000-hp 12-710 EMD engine and is the first to use a diesel exhaust fluid/selective catalytic reduction aftertreatment system for line-haul locomotive applications.

NS assembled the locomotive core at its Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona, Pennsylvania, worked with Progress Rail and Caterpillar on final assembly.

The first GP34ECO will be assigned to NS service in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where it will undergo field testing to ensure that it meets final emissions certification requirements.

Indonesian Railroad Buys EMD Locomotives

Builder’s photo of an EMD GT38AC.

Progress Rail will build 36 new locomotives for PT Kereta Indonesia at it Muncie, Indiana, assembly plant.

The order is for for EMD GT38AC freight locomotives that PT KAI’s will use for South Sumatra coal haulage operations.

PR KASI has had 50 other GT38AC locomotives operating in this service since 2011.

In a news release, Progress Rail said the EMD GT38AC model was designed specifically for Southeastern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa environments.

It features an 8-cylinder EMD 710 engine and durable AC traction, along with a cab and car body designed for improved visibility.

The locomotives are expected to be delivered in late 2021.

Fabled EMD LaGrange Plant Facing Closure

Another Midwest locomotive factory may be about to build its last unit.

Progress Rail Services is considering closing the famed Electro Motive Diesel plant in LaGrange, Illinois, and shifting its work to a factory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Some production of engine and locomotive components could be switched to outside suppliers.

“Progress Rail routinely reviews its strategic footprint and, as a result, is evaluating how to use its existing manufacturing space as efficiently as possible to remain a competitive supplier to the rail industry,” said Progress Rail owner Caterpillar in a statement.

Caterpillar has been undertaking a global restructuring that has reduced employment at its many factories.

EMD has a locomotive assembly plant in Muncie, Indiana, and facilities in Brazil and Mexico.

The EMD business traces its history to the 1922 founding in Cleveland by Harold Hamilton and Paul Turner of Electro-Motive Engineering Corporation

It was later renamed Electro-Motive Company and opened a plant in McCook, Illinois.

However, the factory’s mailing address was LaGrange and for decades the facility has been known as “LaGrange.”

It was there that bulldog-nose F series locomotives were created along with other notable locomotive models.

General Motors bought EMC in 1941 and renamed it the Electro-Motive Division of GM.

It was sold to Greenbriar Equity and Berkshire Partners in 2005 and acquired by Progress Rail in 2010.

Last year  General Electric announced plans to shift locomotive assembling from its plant in Lawrence Park, Pennsylvania, near Erie to a newer facility in Fort Worth, Texas.

GE has since said it is seeking to sell its transportation division.

Caterpillar has not said when the LaGrange plant might be closed.

CSX Testing EMD Demos in West Virginia

CSX is testing two EMD Tier-4 compliant locomotives on trains operating over its Mountain Subdivision between Grafton, West Virginia, and Cumberland, Maryland.

EMDX SD70ACe-T4s Nos. 1609 and 1610 had been operating between Cincinnati and Nashville, Tennessee, since June.

Trains magazine reported that the demonstrators traveled from Cincinnati to Cumberland this past weekend.

Nos. 1609 and 1610 are expected to be assigned to trains Q316 and Q317 between Queensgate Yard in Cincinnati and Cumberland.

Progress Rail to Change Names of Subsidiaries

Progress Rail plans to cease using the Electro-Motive Diesel name for all of its divisions.

However, the change does not affect affect locomotive and engine branding which will continue to be described as EMD products and the EMD logo will continue to be placed on locomotives and diesel engines that Progress Rail manufactures and sells.

Progress Rail will apply its name to three subsidiaries that it owns, including Electro-Motive Diesel Inc., Electro-Motive Canada Company and Electro-Motive Diesel International Corporation.

There will be no changes in the management structure of the three subsidiaries affected by the name changes.

A letter that Progress sent to constituencies said the purpose of the name changes is to create a one company and one team strategy.

The changes are effective  on Sept. 1

EMD to Display Tier 4 Locomotive at Show

Electro-Motive Diesel is displaying its first new Tier 4 emissions compliant freight locomotives at a trade show this weekend in Minneapolis.

The new SD70ACe-T4 was constructed by Progress Rail in Muncie, Indiana. The locomotive is one of five that EMD plans to build and test this year.

EMD has fallen behind GE Transportation in the market for heavy-hauling locomotives that meet U.S. environmental standards. GE Tier 4 locomotives are already in regular service.

EMDX 1501 will be shown at the BNSF Northtown Yard during the four-day Railway Interchange trade show, which features the latest railroad industry technology.

GE to Ramp up Tier 4 Production in 2015

GE Transportation expects to deliver its first production locomotives built to the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 environmental standards in early 2015 while Progress Rail/Electro-Motive Diesel will try to beat its 2017 target date to have its own Tier 4-compliant locomotive in production,

BNSF will receive the first GE Tier 4 locomotive, an ES44C4. The company announced at the InnoTrans international railroad fair that it will update its production line during the first half 2015 to be ready to produce more than 1,000 Tier 4 units booked through 2017.

Twenty GE preproduction Tier 4 locomotives will be tested this fall. GE introduced its new Tier 4 engine at the Railway Interchange show in Indianapolis in 2013 and has been testing on Union Pacific and BNSF since then.

GE Transportation CEO and President Russell Stokes said BNSF has placed a large order for Tier 4 GE ES44C4 units. Stokes says GE has 1,000 Tier 4 units on order compared to just 39 four months ago.

GE’s Evolution series was introduced in 2005. The company has built more than 5,000 units since then.

EMD President and CEO Billy Ainsworth said that his company won’t offer a Tier 4 locomotive in 2015 because of a lack of investment by EMD’s former parent company, General Motors, and its subsequent ownership under a private equity group.

“EMD has been really the technology leader for over 90 years and suffered from under-investment in the last 10 years when General Motors and then [the] investment firm” owned the company, Ainsworth said. EMD’s 710 prime mover, which powers its SD70 series, cannot be modified to efficiently meet Tier 4 standards. Thus EMD has had to develop a new engine.

“We weren’t asleep at the switch,” Ainsworth said. “We’re working hard to pull that date up.”

EMD is also working on a Tier 4 compliant engine that burns natural gas.