(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on the Journal of Commerce website on March 12, 2009.)
Two locomotives refit after earlier test of rechargeable units failed
Kansas City Southern Railway has joined the list of major railroads starting to incorporate the low-emission “genset” switcher locomotives to its fleet, as it refit two engines for its Port Arthur, Texas, train yard.
The innovative locomotives use truck engines as power generator sets that can run in tandem when maximum pulling power is needed, or one at a time when the vehicle is simply moving from one part of a yard to another.
Earlier, KCS experimented with two hybrid locomotives that used rechargeable batteries and paid for with a grant from the Texas Emissions Reduction Program.
Company spokeswoman C. Doniele Kane said that “unfortunately, the hybrid units failed, so they were converted to genset units, paid for by KCSR with a discount from Rail Power,” the company that installed the two V-8 truck-type engines that can crank out 700 horsepower each.
The genset locomotives can cut diesel emissions by 80 percent from the older locomotives that are typically used in rail yards, where concentrations of exhaust levels have several states helping railroads pay for cleaner equipment. The units also use idle controls that automatically shut them down when the engines are not being used, cutting their fuel burn.
Kane said KCS is also refitting 11 more locomotives in Texas, paid for largely with TERP funds, with cleaner burning eight-cylinder engines to replace their 16-cylinder units. Its rail unit in Mexico is paying to refit 16 more for use in that country. That “repower” work is being done by Electro Motive Diesel.