https://electrek.co/2021/11/04/cn-purchases-battery-electric-freight-locomotive-from-wabtec-to-support-sustainability-goals/
Canadian National Railway Company (CN) announced the purchase of Wabtec’s FLXdrive battery-electric freight locomotive, the first to join its 19,500-mile rail network. The purchase was part of CN’s sustainability strategy to reduce freight transportation emissions and will be supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
CN ($CNI) is a railway company in operation since 1919, safely transporting over 300 million tons of natural resources, products, and finished goods throughout North America each year.
The company is currently the most fuel-efficient railway in North America, using approximately 15% less locomotive fuel per gross ton-mile than the industry average.
https://www.wabteccorp.com/newsroom/press-releases/cn-advances-sustainability-efforts-with-wabtecs-battery-electric-locomotive
Both those articles seem to imply only a single unit was purchased which seems off to me.
Presumably this is testing on B&LE to stay reasonably close to Erie during the testing.
I think it's pretty clear it's an experimental acquisition. Especially on B&LE I'd expect the real first best use of the FLXdrive to be as the 'hybrid enablement' of a diesel or zero-carbon 12- or 18-motor semidedicated consist, not as a pure standalone.
This is interesting.. CP is testing hydrogen power and CN is going in for battery... We shall see which is better. Likely another transition era come up soon.
YoHo1975 Both those articles seem to imply only a single unit was purchased which seems off to me.
If you were CN, would you buy 50 of the things without testing a prototype first?
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Overmod Presumably this is testing on B&LE to stay reasonably close to Erie during the testing.
The State provided some of the purchase funds through a grant, so no surprise they'd want it to stay within their borders.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/cn-to-purchase-wabtec-battery-electric-locomotive/
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
cv_acr YoHo1975 Both those articles seem to imply only a single unit was purchased which seems off to me. If you were CN, would you buy 50 of the things without testing a prototype first?
Well, normally they'd NOT purchase the prototype at all, but test the Wabtec owned units.
CP and EMD/Chevron both have different Hydrogen plans afoot. the EMD/Chevron thing sounds markedly different from the CP one.
The CP one is going to resurrect a couple draper tapers so I'm all for it.
CN recently switched to SD70M-2 locomotives on their Bessemer & Lake Erie road trains. Two on the head end and a single DPU on the rear.
https://railpictures.net/photo/765188/
It will be a good real world test track.
It will be very interesting to see if battery or hydrogen technology is successful or if in a few years they will have gone the way of the gensets....
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