GE opens assembly line in Kazakhstan to sell good-for-nothing engines to Russia

[Anonymous]

Hello Trains.com! Im' first time on this forum and I need to say I already like it. I appreciate what moderators are doing 'cause that's [explicative removed] a job to be running a forum like this one Now I want to tell you about something that amused me greatly in the recent. Perhaps some of you know already that General Electric has come to a decision to discontinue the line of its 7FDL12 engines that fail to meet ecological norms in the EU and even the US itself. However, closing a manufacture at Erie is a certain loss of profit while EG badly needs this money to stay in business. That's when EG's board of directors decided to hold negotiations with Russian Railroads company in order to open an assembly line for 7FDL12 engines in Leningrad region. And still, at the very last moment Russians understood that GE was about to take advantage of them so they brought the deal to naught. Really, the 7FDL engines were designed half a century ago (!) and hence fail to compete with Russian-made engines However, money has no smell while Russia has a vast locomotive pool that requires modernization with new engines. That's why GE decided to take a risk and lobby opening of an assembly line in Russia's neighbor state Kazakhstan. Of course, Kazakh-made engines are no better than the ones that used to be made in Erie but wiseheads in GE are sure that Russians would be buying them all the same :) Isn't that cool?

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

If the FDL engines are so terrible, then why were so many used in locomotives sold to railroads in the United States and a host of other countries?  As far as age is concerned, the 251 engine (still being manufactured both here and abroad) is also a half-century-old design.

[J. Edgar]

 and by the way.....Welcome to the forums.....dont let the grumpy ol men dishearten you ....they all have opinions....lol

[gregrudd]

So know I know why Borat retired from journalism, he is now into locomotive sales. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[al-in-chgo]

If the FDL engines are so terrible, then why were so many used in locomotives sold to railroads in the United States and a host of other countries?  As far as age is concerned, the 251 engine (still being manufactured both here and abroad) is also a half-century-old design.

It seems to me that GE has almost always made a profit on ventures it entered into.  - a. s.

 

[Anonymous]

2 CSSHEGEWISCH, that's not the case. you may keep using a half-century-old engine and even keep manufacturing some of these but this doesn't make them environmentally friendly or cost-effective or anything. mind this, not a single european state would ever buy them. you know why? because these engines are morally obsolete. only third-world countries like kazakhstan agree to buy them because the US has certain political influence on them. though I believe that buying 7FDL engines is a pure squander. btw, I know that even before kazakh came into line with GE for opening an assemble plant, mongolia had 2 of its locomotives modernized with GE 7FDL engines. after using them for two years mongolians came to a determination that buying these engines was a mere waste. to begin with they are terribly unstable in operation the onboard computer is lagging and hanging-up something gets broken every now and then. they had to renew a ton of defective parts - it looked like the GE 7FDL began to shiver! in addition to that there was excess oil flow and huge fuel penalty! how do you like this? as far as I know, after that china refused to buy these engines. if only there was no kazakhstan with its puppet president and russian corrupt officials GE would go bankrupt 'cause nobody else would pay for this junk! sorry, i forgot to say hello :)

[beaulieu]

I notice that both you and the OP are first time posters to this forum. Both of you are making troll type comments yet you cannot back up what you claim about GE. GE 7FDL12 engine can be UIC2 compliant as this linked story shows.

 

Rebuilds using new GE 7FDL engines 

[ndbprr]

What you do not understand is that the Kyoto treaty and all other world sponsored environmental actions only have one purpose and that is to shut down the US and all advanced economies.  The third world has none of the requirements they try to ram down our throats.  China and India can pollute all they want but we are evil for producing so much.  Good for GE.  I wish more companies would do the same thing.   

[jockellis]

I don't think GE has to sell a few engines in Europe or Asia to stay in business. We didn't hit our financial goal this past quarter but that was because of the nation's financial situation and bad loans. Other than that, GE made a ton of money.
GE is a multinational company now and is pushing production in all parts of the world. So are GM, IBM, Microsoft, and a whole slew of others. As in all business, you make what the consumer can afford. Or thinks it can afford.
I don't work for GE Transportation. I do NDT work for GE Energy Power systems Airfoils and we are doing big business all over the world.

[Dakguy201]

Many people have little idea of the real size of General Electric as a company.  The concept that they need to keep a particular engine in production to remain a viable company is so much nonsense.  This is a company with US$ 160 billion yearly revenue, in those terms an individual engine's contribution is less than rounding error. 

New posters certainly are welcome to the forums.  However, it is a stretch to believe this subject has attracted two new posters whose native language is not English, and both of them have the same viewpoint.

[trainfan1221]

Ummm.. How did this post suddenly get renamed halfway through?

[sovablunt]

I am well and thoroughly confused. Apparently Borat likes GE locomotives for his backyard miniature railroad?

[M636C]

Ummm.. How did this post suddenly get renamed halfway through?

Since the last update of the forum it has been possible to change the heading for each posting.

M636C

[wnder]

The new plant being built in Kazakhstan to build the 300 or so loco's for the countries rail system. The first ten are being built at the Erie,PA plant and exported to the country, the rest are to be built there using kits provided by GE. The frames and trucks are being shipped now. GE Grove City,PA plant is suppling the new GEVO engines.

[karldotcom]

What do you think happens to all those smoke belching power plants and assembly lines being taken apart across the United States and Canada?  They are nearly all rebuilt in countries with less or no smog requirements.  If GE is building stuff overseas, good for them...it will help my stock.

[YoHo1975]

Are they building 7FDLs or GEVOs?

The original post implies 7FDLs, but 2 posts up the poster said Evolution series.

 

 

edit: Wikipedia says they will be Evolution Series. Therefore the original poster is incorrect (regardless of any other agendas) GE is not exporting their old 7FDL (which by the way is not the same as the regular FDL that they started with. It's the 7th version of it) and it's not the HDL either. They're shipping their best product.

So the entire foundation for this thread is in error.  

[beaulieu]

Are they building 7FDLs or GEVOs?

The original post implies 7FDLs, but 2 posts up the poster said Evolution series.

 

 

edit: Wikipedia says they will be Evolution Series. Therefore the original poster is incorrect (regardless of any other agendas) GE is not exporting their old 7FDL (which by the way is not the same as the regular FDL that they started with. It's the 7th version of it) and it's not the HDL either. They're shipping their best product.

So the entire foundation for this thread is in error.  

 

Good catch, although GE had previously supplied 7FDL engines to Kazakhstan, these will use the new GEVO engine.

 

In the old GE engine system the "7" didn't indicate a variation of the diesel engine, but rather just the category of equipment, in this case "Rotating Transportation Equipment"  the variant is indicated by a suffix letter that is rarely quoted for GE locomotives. For example the diesel used in most C30-7s was a "7FDL-16F5" where the "F" indicated the 6th variant, and the "5" a subvariant. Very rare to find detailed information on this. My shop manual for UP AC6044CWs shows them as having a 7FDL-16G3 diesel engine.

[wjstix]

Seems to me there was a South American company that bought or leased the rights / tooling etc. to the Volkswagen "Beetle" and kept making them until the late 1990's?? I think there was also a company there that made Ford Model A's until the seventies or eighties....??

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Seems to me there was a South American company that bought or leased the rights / tooling etc. to the Volkswagen "Beetle" and kept making them until the late 1990's?? I think there was also a company there that made Ford Model A's until the seventies or eighties....??

I think it was a Volkswagen plant in Brazil that continued to manufacture the "Beetle", not a licensing arrangement.