MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway Co. said on Wednesday it agreed to buy 60 Dash 9-44CW locomotives from General Electric Co.’s Transportation Systems unit, a wire service reports.
Montreal-based CN, Canada’s largest railway and the No. 5 in North America, said delivery of the new locomotives will be made in stages to be completed by the end of 2004.
“These new locomotives will improve asset utilization and increase operating efficiencies,” Dennis Waller, CN’s vice-president of engineering and mechanical, said in a statement.
“They will provide significant fuel savings because they are 18 percent more efficient than older locomotives. They will also require 35 percent lower maintenance costs compared to the older units.”
Each new Dash 9 unit generates 4,400 horsepower. For each group of 30 Dash 9 units, CN will displace up to 50 older mainline locomotives that develop 3,000 horsepower each, it said. The new locomotives will be dedicated to mainline service across the CN system, while the older units will be available for less demanding service.
CN said that since embarking on a program in 1995 to upgrade its mainline fleet, it has acquired 384 new locomotives. That brings the average age of CN’s locomotive mainline fleet to about 13 years, compared with about 18 in early 1995, it added.
The new units will be maintained at CN’s Symington shops in Winnipeg, and four additional CN locations, Toronto, Edmonton, Chicago and Memphis, under an expanded 1997 agreement with GE Transportation Systems initiated in 1997.
CN shares were up 16 Canadian cents at C$82.40 in Toronto on Wednesday afternoon.