UP to Test Hybrid Locomotive
Wednesday, April 06, 2005, at 02:36PM
By Eric Richardson
From the San Jose Business Journal:
The Union Pacific Railroad's switching yard in smoggy Fresno has been picked as the place the Omaha, Neb.-based company will test its first hybrid diesel-electric locomotive.
... It is expected the hybrid will cut air emissions by 80 percent to 90 percent and reduce diesel fuel use by 50 percent to 80 percent compared to a conventional diesel-powered switching locomotive, the company says.
The locomotive is built by Railpower Technologies. Apparently I missed the LA Times story from March 16th talking about one of these locomotives in LA. Here we find that the engine can switch cars around the yard for at least eight hours on battery power.
My favorite line, though:
The locomotive is the world's largest and heaviest hybrid land vehicle currently in production, Union Pacific says.
Not much competition at that size, I don't think.