CN Buys New Wabtec Dispatching System

Canadian National is the first customers to buy a new dispatching system created by Pittsburgh-based Wabtec Corporation.

In a news release, Wabtec described the dispatching system as a major step toward network automation for CN and the entire rail industry.

CN plans to use the dispatching system across its 20,000-mile network on 37 dispatching desks.

The system is expected to be phased into operation through late 2023.

Wabtec officials said the system will enable CN to increase capacity and improve efficiency and safety.

The dispatching system analyzes data coming from all rolling stock and wayside device assets and positive train control, Wabtec said.

With this information, the system provides advanced automation through end-to-end electronic delivery of mandatory directives and automatic implementation of authorities in dark territory.

Wabtec Donates Unit to Lake Shore Museum

Wabtec has donated an Erie-built locomotive to the Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East, Pennsylvania.

The unit, GECX 6002, a GE-built AC6000 is one of the most powerful diesel locomotives ever built and is the first AC traction unit to be preserved by a museum.

The 6002 arrived at the museum on March 17.

Although built in 1998 for the Union Pacific, the 6002 was returned to GE to become part of the company’s engineering test fleet.

At that time it was repainted red and gray. It has since been retired.

The Lake Shore museum specializes in collecting GE locomotives built at the nearby GE assembly plant in Lawrence Park.

Wabtec to Modernize 330 NS Locomotives

Norfolk Southern and Wabtec have agreed on a contract whereby the locomotive builder will modernize 330 NS locomotives.

In a news release, Wabtec said the work will improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions on each unit.

It is the third modernization order NS has placed with Wabtec since 2015 with more than 950 locomotives expected to be completed by 2025.

The locomotives in the latest order are D9-44CW units that are more than 20 years old.

They will be converted into AC44C6M locomotives, which Wabtec said will add another 20 years of life to each locomotive.

Wabtec Seeks Zero Emission Locomotive

Pittsburgh-based Wabtec is seeking to develop a locomotive that will not have greenhouse gas emissions.

As reported by Trains magazine on its website, company officials said at the RailTrends 2021 conference that such a product may be a “moonshot”  but they are still aiming toward it.

“The big question is what’s possible?” said Gina Trombley, Wabtec’s executive vice president of sales and marketing and chief commercial officer.

A zero emissions locomotives won’t be developed overnight.

Trombley said a first step is to rehabilitate existing locomotives to lower their emissions and reduce fuel consumption. Another key will be the development of better batteries that will be used to power locomotives.

The article can be read at https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/wabtecs-moonshot-zero-emissions-locomotives/

CN Buys Wabtec Battery Locomotive for B&LE

Canadian National is buying a battery-powered locomotive from Wabtec to use on its Bessemer & Lake Erie subsidiary in Pennsylvania.

The locomotive is a FLXdrive battery-electric freight locomotive, which CN said is the first 100 percent battery heavy-haul locomotive for the region. It is CN’s first battery-electric locomotive.

Funding to purchase the locomotive came in part from a grant from the  Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Wabtec said the FLXdrive technology can reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30 percent.

Battery-Powered Locomotive Moves to Pittsburgh

A battery-electric prototype built by Wabtec left Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday for a an event in Pittsburgh.

The FLXdrive locomotive was accompanied by ET44C6 demonstrator No. 2044.

Both are appearing at the Sept. 10 Freight 2030 event that focuses on the future of railroads.

The battery-powered locomotive had tested earlier this year in California on BNSF.

Wabtec Completes Rebuild on 1,000th Unit

Pittsburgh-based Wabtec said last week that it has completed rebuilding its 1,000^th locomotive.

The rebuilding program began in 2015 with work done at plants in Erie, Pennsylvania; Fort Worth, Texas; and Contagem, Brazil.

Norfolk Southern has received half of the rebuilt units, many of them General Electric-built Dash 9 units with 4,000 horsepower D.C. traction motors that were manufactured in the 1990s.

Wabtec has converted them to A.C. traction and designed them as AC44C6M models.

NS No. 4463 was the 1,000th unit rebuilt by Wabtec and was displayed at the Fort Worth plant.

In a news release, Wabtec said rebuilt locomotives increase tractive effort by 50 percent with the switch from D.C. to A.C. traction, improvements in truck design, an 11-ton weight increase, and new standardized control systems.

It said NS can assign two rebuilt units to trains that would have required three older units to achieve the same performance level.

CSX to Use Wabtec Locomotive Technology

Pittsburgh-based Wabtec announced this week that CSX will use its Trip Optimizer Zero-to-Zero system.

In a news release, Wabtec said the system is designed to enhance fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

CSX will be the first railroad to use the system, which starts a train from zero mph and stops it automatically using various controls. 

The announcement also said CSX plans to use Wabtec’s Tier 4 switcher modernization program, which the company said provides an additional 20 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and a 90 percent reduction in emissions.

This program upgrades 40-to-50-year-old locomotives and Tier 0 non-emission switcher locomotives to the latest Tier 4 platform., Wabtec said.

CSX also said it will modernize locomotives across its fleet with Wabtec’s FDL Advantage engine upgrade, which provides up to an additional 5 percent reduction in fuel consumption through a high-pressure common rail fuel system.

Wabtec, GM to Develop Loco Power Systems

Pittsburgh-based Wabetc has signed a memorandum of understanding with General Motors to work to develop a battery for use on Wabtec locomotives.

The two companies plan to work to develop GM’s Ultium battery technology and Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell systems.

The systems would be used in Wabtec’s  FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive. A prototype of the unit recently tested on BNSF in California.

In a statement, Wabtec said “by working with GM on Ultium battery and Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell technologies, we can accelerate the rail industry’s path to decarbonization and pathway to zero-emission locomotives by leveraging these two important propulsion technologies.”

Wabtec said the collaboration will enable Wabtec to take advantage of technology already under development for a variety of highway uses.

GM is constructing battery cell plants in Ohio and Tennessee in a joint venture with LG Energy Solutions, and will manufacture its hydrogen fuel cells in a joint venture with Honda at a plant in Brownstown, Michigan.

Wabtec Shares Data From Battery Locomotive Testing

Pittsburgh-based Wabtec released findings on Monday showing that its battery-powered locomotive cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 11 percent during testing.

Wabtec’s FLXdrive locomotive tested over 13,000 miles on BNSF in California earlier this year.

The next step in the development of a battery-electric locomotive, Wabtec said, will be creating battery capacity of more than 6 megawatt hours, which could reduce the fuel consumption and carbon emissions of a locomotive consist by up to 30 percent.

Such a locomotive could begin revenue service “in the next few years,” Wabtec said in a news release.

Wabtec said its efforts to develop zero-emission locomotives using batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, and hydrogen internal combustion engines has “a clear path” to power new locomotives and re-power existing engines — with those forms of power.

The locomotives used in the BNSF test had 18,000 lithium-ion battery cells with 2.4 megawatts of power that were charged at rail yards and through regenerative braking.

A grant of $22.6 million from the California Air Resources Board to Wabtec, BNSF, and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District paid for the testing.