General Electric Debuts Tier 4 Compliant Heavy Haul Locomotive as EMD Experiments
THE FIRST LINE-HAUL diesel locomotive to meet the Environ- mental Protection Agency’s loom- ing Tier 4 emissions requirements was announced by General Elec- tric on August 24, 2012. The 4400 h.p. ES44AC locomotive (above) meets the stricter EPA-mandated nitrogen oxide and particulate thresholds without exhaust af- tertreatment by regulating the op- erating temperature of each cylin- der to run hot enough to reduce NOx, yet stay cool enough to con- trol particulates. GE says it will field test 30 pre-production units to evaluate their performance under actual service conditions before the Tier 4 deadline of January 1, 2015. Progress Rail Services’ Electro-Motive Diesel expected to meet the
more stringent emissions standards before GE, due to the fact that its two-cycle 710 engine runs cooler than the four-cycle EVO and can meet the NOx limit by using exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). However, the
Alabama & Gulf Coast
FLORIDA OIL TERMINAL OPENS: Gene- sis Energy L.P. has opened a new crude oil un- loading terminal located on RailAmerica’s Al- abama & Gulf Coast Railway (ALA) in Walnut Hill, Fla. The terminal can accommodate 100- car unit trains, which are emptied into storage tanks from which the oil is pumped into the Genesis Energy pipeline system for final deliv- ery to locations in Florida and Alabama. Al- abama Gulf Coast interchanges directly with all the major railroads except Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific, which enables the ter- minal to handle rail-hauled crude from almost anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. RailAmerica says it will invest in capacity upgrades to sup- port improved service to the facility.
All Aboard Florida
A FLY IN THE OINTMENT? Florida East Coast’s All Aboard Florida initiative to build a new high-speed passenger rail route between Orlando and Cocoa, Fla., may have hit a snag. Officials of the Orlando-Orange County Ex- pressway Authority, which owns the Beeline Expressway toll road, say they’re not too en- thusiastic about a proposal to build the rail- road in their highway’s right of way, since it would take toll-paying drivers off the road and put them on All Aboard Florida’s trains.
24 NOVEMBER 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
710 also needs exhaust aftertreat- ment to bring down particulates. So, on August 22, EMD and Union Pacific announced that in Califor- nia they will test 25 SD59MX (SD32ECO) rebuilds modified with various exhaust aftertreat- ment systems. The units are for- mer SD60M’s which had their 3800-h.p. 16-710 engines replaced with 3200-h.p. 12-710s at EMD’s former London, Ontario, plant in 2010; they’ll be based out of Rose- ville and Colton. No. 9900 (left)
and nine mates will be fitted with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), and diesel particulate filters (DPF), while the balance of the units will be equipped with various combina- tions of emissions reduction equipment as research under actual service conditions continues. Finding room for all that extra gear aboard a loco- motive with a larger, 16-cylinder engine will be a challenge, so we may not see a Tier 4 compliant SD70ACe any time soon.
Amtrak
HIGHER SPEEDS ARE TESTED ON NEC: Beginning on the night of September 24, 2012, and continuing into the following week, Am- trak operated test trains at up to 165 m.p.h. at several locations over more than 100 miles of the Northeast Corridor. An Acela Express trainset was used along with track geometry car 10003, which measured the interaction be- tween the train, track, and catenary, along with ride quality and other factors. The tests were conducted on 21.3 miles of track between Perryville, Md., and Wilmington, Del., and 22.9 miles from Trenton to New Brunswick, N.J., which currently have a maximum speed limit of 135 m.p.h. Tests were also made be- tween Westerly and Cranston, R.I. (29.2 miles) and from South Attleboro to Readville, Mass. (27.8 miles), where a maximum speed of 150 m.p.h. is currently in effect for Acela trainsets. The initial tests were made in New Jersey,
where Amtrak is working on a 24-mile, $450 million improvement project between Mor- risville, Penn., and New Brunswick, N.J., funded by the federal high-speed rail program. Upgraded track, power distribution, and sig- nal systems, plus constant-tension catenary will permit regular operations at 160 m.p.h. Preliminary engineering work is under way now and construction is expected to begin in 2013 with completion set for 2017.
TAKES OVER CSX TRACK IN NEW YORK: Amtrak’s takeover of 94 miles of the CSX Hud- son Line in upstate New York along Amtrak’s Empire Corridor was postponed from Novem- ber 5 to November 10 due to Hurricane Sandy recovery operations. Under a 25-year lease, the passenger railroad will maintain and dis- patch the Hudson Line from Poughkeepsie through Albany/Rensselaer to Schenectady and on to CP 169, the junction with the CSX Selkirk Subdivision at Hoffmans. Amtrak will pay CSX $7 million a year, while the freight carrier will pay Amtrak $1.5 million a year plus a per-car fee to accommodate its trains. The addition of a second main track and im- proved signaling to the single-track bottleneck between Albany/Rensselaer and Schenectady is a top priority, and that project is expected to begin next spring. The railroad will also add a fourth track at the Albany-Rensselaer station and upgrade the signals along the entire route between Hoffmans and Poughkeepsie.
NORFOLK SERVICE TO START: Amtrak will begin to operate a daily state-supported Northeast Regional train between Norfolk, Va., and Boston, Mass., on December 12, near- ly a year ahead of schedule. The train will call at the Harbor Park Intermodal Center, with its Tide light rail connection, using Norfolk Southern rails between Petersburg, Va., and Norfolk. The last Amtrak train to the city was
GENERAL ELECTRIC
UNION PACIFIC
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