‘Eco-locomotives’ unveiled in Atlanta rail yard

[NS Newsfeed]

Railroad giant Norfolk Southern on Tuesday rolled out what it called the nation's first of a new class of locomotives designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas.



At an event at Norfolk Southern's Inman Yard in northwest Atlanta, the company showcased shiny green "eco-locomotives" to be used to haul freight cars around the sprawling rail yard.



The 10 locomotives will release 150 fewer tons of pollutants than older engines, said Mark Manion, Norfolk Southern's chief operating officer.



"The bottom line is cleaner air quality for residents of Atlanta and other industrial cities," he said.



Norfolk Southern employs more than 4,700 people in Georgia and has about 1,800 rail miles in the state. It transports 1.3 million shipments by rail in Georgia each year, totaling about 55 million tons of freight.



The company said it received $16 million in government grants for the $26 million project through a federal air quality program. Beverly Banister, head of the Environmental Protection Agency's Atlanta division, said the public-private partnership is "at the cutting edge of locomotive technology that will result in cleaner air."



Gov. Nathan Deal, on hand for the ceremony, tied the project to the state's effort to build new inland ports where cargo bound for Savannah's port can be loaded onto freight trains hundreds of miles from the coast. One inland port is already operating in southwest Georgia, and a second is under construction in Chatsworth, near Tennessee's border.



"We're only going to get busier," Deal said.







The Atlanta Business Chronicle, September 1, 2015



Norfolk Southern takes wraps off low-emission locomotives



By Dave Williams



Officials at Norfolk Southern Corp. unveiled a set of new low-emission locomotives Tuesday that will be used to move freight rail cars around at the company's Inman Yard in Atlanta.



Funded in part through federal grants, Norfolk Southern developed the "eco-locomotives" in partnership with Progress Rail – a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. – as part of a sustainability initiative aimed at reducing air pollution in urban areas.



"These locomotives represent one of the finest examples of collaboration between public and private partners to produce technology that sustains environmental health," Mark Manion, Norfolk Southern's executive vice president and chief operating officer, said during a dedication ceremony.



Manion said 10 of the new locomotives will go into service immediately, replacing older, less fuel-efficient locomotives at the busy switching yard, which serves 75 freight trains a day. The result will be significant reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter in the western end of the city, he said.



Gov. Nathan Deal said the low-emission locomotives will increase in importance as activity picks up at Inman Yard with the planned construction of an "inland port" in Northwest Georgia, an intermodal facility where freight hauled in by trucks from across that region and parts of Tennessee and Kentucky will be loaded onto freight trains bound for the Port of Savannah via Atlanta.



"Shipping by rail is one of the cleanest, most fuel-efficient ways to move large amounts of freight across land," added Beverly Banister, director of air, pesticides and toxic management for the Atlanta-based Environmental Protection Agency's Region 4.



Manion said more low-emission locomotives will be added at Inman Yard next year, and the program will expand to freight rail yards in Macon, Ga. and Rome, Ga.







Railway Age, September 1, 2015



Introducing the NS GP33ECO



By William C. Vantuono



Norfolk Southern unveiled on Sept. 1, 2015 its new GP33ECO switcher locomotive during ceremonies at Inman Yard in Atlanta, Ga.



Designed and constructed at the railroad's Juniata locomotive shops, the GP33ECO will see yard service as the mother unit in a mother-slug set. So far, 10 have been built. They will be deployed in Atlanta; 65% of their cost has been subsidized by a CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) Improvement Program grant administered through various federal and state agencies, among them the Federal Highway Administration, the Georgia Department of Transportation Environmental Protection Division and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.



Based on an EMD GP50, the four-axle, 3,000-hp GP33ECO uses an EPA Tier 3-compliant 12N-710G3BT3 ("710 ECO Kit") prime-mover from Electro-Motive Diesel, D87 traction motors (which offer 10% higher tractive effort than a D77), new radiators with two-speed fans, electrical cabinets with EMD's EM 2000 microprocessor, an AR15 main traction alternator (retained from the GP50) and a CA6 companion alternator (a replacement for the D 18). NS's Admiral Cab, with its angled windshield, has been fitted to the car body. The unit's flared radiators "are similar to those of an SD70," according to NS Mechanical Engineer-Locomotive Design Mark Duve.



The GP33ECO mother unit is mated to a ballasted slug unit equipped with four DC traction motors and two EMD electrical cabinets. "Unlike other slugs, this one goes through transition and does not cut out at 20 mph," said Duve. "The combination gets very close to Tier 4, compared to two switcher locomotives operating as a multiple unit. It runs at a higher, more efficient throttle notch setting, notches 4 through 6. We estimate its tractive effort to be equivalent to that of a new GP59."



Use of these locomotives "will help Atlanta achieve federal clean air standards and will produce significant, measurable emissions reductions and fuel savings," NS said. "Additional CMAQ grants will lead to future placement of these locomotives at our rail yards at Macon and Rome, Ga., and at Chicago."



The GP33ECO features a stylistic green paint scheme with a Georgia-shaped icon and the slogan "Working Together for a Cleaner State."



NS calculates that the 10 units, dubbed "Eco units," will account for 6.6 fewer tons of PM (particulate matter) and 155 fewer tons of NOx (nitrogen oxides). "In addition to lower emissions and fuel savings, benefits include operating efficiencies, as each Eco unit can replace two older, less-efficient locomotives," said NS Chief Operating Officer Mark Manion. "Over the past five years, we have significantly lowered greenhouse gas emissions of our locomotive fleet, achieving an 8.5% reduction per revenue ton-mile. Rollout of the Eco units demonstrates Norfolk Southern's continuing commitment to industry leadership in sustainability best practices and environmental partnerships. Our transportation operations at Atlanta are central to serving customers throughout our network and beyond. We consider it a corporate responsibility to mitigate the environmental impacts of our rail operations, and we thank the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Division, the city of Atlanta and other cities and customers all along our lines that partner with us to achieve this goal."