GE sends first PowerHaul locomotives to UK
(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on November 9, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first two of GE Transportation’s PowerHaul locomotives have arrived in the United Kingdom for the Freightliner Group freight rail line, marking GE’s first entry to European markets with what will be an eventual delivery of 30 of the high-power units.
GE officials would not disclose the cost, but high-power locomotives usually cost several million dollars apiece, and these 129-ton units will be the largest deployed in that country.
They were built in Erie, Pa. The exports come at a time when most North American railroads have sharply cut back normal ordering of new power units, since carriers still have many of their current locomotives idled due to the recession’s sharp decline in freight traffic.
These PowerHaul units are also specially designed for the UK market, where the haulage forces – train weights and track capacity – along with tunnel and track network clearances are lower than in North America.
The units’ V16 engines are rated at 3,700 horsepower, according to specifications on a GE Web site -- lower than linehaul engines in U.S. freight service but also with a lighter frame.
The PowerHaul locomotives are built to provide more hauling power and tractive force while lowering fuel use and diesel emissions compared with train engines the customer is currently using. Freightliner says it has more than 175 locomotives in all.
Tim Shakerley, Freightliner Group’s engineering director said the new units are “a culmination of two years of hard work and partnership with GE, in order to produce a locomotive that will increase our haulage capabilities and bring further reduction to our carbon emissions.”
Brett BeGole, general manager of global locomotive operations for GE Transportation said “the PowerHaul series is GE’s most technologically advanced, fuel-efficient and low-emissions diesel-electric freight locomotive to date.”
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
