(The following article by Diane Wetzel was posted on the North Platte Telegraph website on February 28.)
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Last month the Union Pacific Railroad handed out $55,000 worth of fuel cards to employees in North Platte.
The rewards were the result of fuel conservation efforts by engineers and dispatchers through the Fuel Master’s program. The program began in North Platte two years ago as a pilot program, and has now spread to 30 crew runs along the UP system.
Wayne Kennedy, general director of fuel conservation for UP, was in North Platte Monday to talk about proposed expansion of the program, which first began in North Platte in April 2004 on the North Platte to South Morrill run. Today there are 3,000 engineers participating across the UP system.
“More that half of the UP system will be part of the program,” Kennedy said. “We hope to have the entire system involved by 2007.”
“Any given trip burns a certain amount of fuel,” Kennedy said. “Any conservation effort is under the engineer’s control.”
Union Pacific used 1.35 billion gallons of diesel fuel last year, Kennedy said. The company is the largest consumer of fuel in the world. In the two years since the program began, fuel consumption has been reduced by 5 percent.
Fuels Masters is a volunteer program that compares an engineer’s fuel consumption performance against engineers in the same territory. A two-month “snapshot” is used to calculate average consumption rates. Each month, engineers in the top 15-20 percent are awarded fuel cards. Rankings are posted on a Web site, encouraging competition, Kennedy said.
Gary Songster, of Safety and Training for UP, said engineers can use the weight of trains to help sustain speed and save fuel.
“Engineers can reduce fuel consumption by modulating the throttle, as opposed to the old way, where you just open up the throttle and go,” Songster said. “I see this as something that is good for the environment and the health of the company. A lot of companies have gone under because of the high cost of fuel.”
North Platte’s Bailey Yard uses up to 75,000 gallons of fuel a month. Cost of diesel has been up to $2 a gallon.
“The program is all carrot and no stick,” Songster said. “We hope it will open doors to other opportunities for employees to step up and work with others.”
Pat Pfiefer is an engineer for UP and runs the Fuel Masters program for the North Platte east side.
“Management has been extremely supportive of the program,” Pfiefer said.
Some engineers now volunteer as mentors, teaching conservation techniques to other engineers.