The Journey to Decarbonizing Rail

Time is not linear when it comes to change, and the past months have radically altered the way we look at our world’s future, increasing the urgency to act.

In North America, freight railroads are rising to the challenge of decarbonizing transportation, publicly committing to ambitious, science-based targets for emission reduction. At Wabtec, our mission is to help our customers achieve these goals by developing technologies that will ultimately lead to zero-emission freight trains. Today, our T4 locomotives are proven to reduce emissions by 70 percent. Tomorrow, our battery and hydrogen locomotives and energy management solutions will make zero-emission rail a reality … There is also a lot that can be done today with the current installed base!

Working alongside our customers to turn their decarbonization ambition into reality, it is obvious that the lines between “new” and “old” assets are getting blurred. The potential to significantly reduce emissions by leveraging the latest technologies to improve the performance of the installed base of locomotive is massive. In North America, 23,000 locomotives are moving nearly 30 percent of the total freight. Millions of trucks are taking care of the rest. Over the years, we have focused on this fleet of locomotives, and have developed a strong portfolio of solutions, enabling drastic performance improvement in terms of efficiency and reliability, and allowing our customers to slash their emissions while getting an attractive return on investment.

For example, we will soon celebrate our 1000th North American modernized locomotive built in our Fort Worth, TX facility. These units see a carbon intensity reduction of up to 50 percent for a DC-to-AC conversion … through this program, the industry has saved over one million tons of CO2, equivalent to removing 280,000 cars from US highways. Across railroads, these units are among the most utilized, thanks to their reliability and overall performance.

Last year, we introduced our FDL engine upgrade, cutting emissions by an additional 5 percent.. This has been a successful product launch, as we have since then accumulated 850,000 miles of operation at a record reliability.

As another step in our strategy, today we announced a partnership with CSX to further improve the performance of their installed base, through a set of upgraded digital solutions; an expanded roll-out of FDL Advantage; and for the first time a modernization campaign for their yard switcher locomotives. This switcher modernization solution is enhancing assets built nearly 50 years ago, before decarbonization was ever on the agenda, taking them up to the latest Tier 4 emission standard. Upgrading these units will eliminate up to 90 tons of CO2 and 7 tons of NOx per locomotive per year. Through this partnership we’re contributing to CSX’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by more than 37 percent by 2030, reinforcing rail as the safest and cleanest way to move goods on land.

One day, the time will come for this generation of locomotives to take some well-deserved rest and make space for Wabtec’s zero emission technologies. Until then, they will carry their load and help us build the bridge towards the future of transportation!