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Electrification is an elusive goal for the rail freight industry, but Canada’s CN is giving it an ancient university attempt.
**Correct, update this article, we apologize: "The grant funds we provided for this important project did not come from Pennsylvania taxpayers. We provided 100% of the grant funds from the Pennsylvania Volkswagen Settlement Fund to reduce air Pollution, as this fund intended. Please visit www.dep.pa.gov/drivingPAforward for more information"
"CN and Wabtec believe that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has supported this transaction through its Maritime and Rail Freight Foster Funding Program, so everyone hugs all Pennsylvania taxpayers. The new locomotive will be shipped to CN in Western Pennsylvania. Company Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company"
As we all know, railway freight is fuel-efficient. The missing link on the sustainable development cake is electrification. It has been developing at a snail-like speed. There are too many gin and tonics under its belt. However, a glimmer of light appeared at the end of the tunnel, and a new 100% electric locomotive was about to be operated by the Canadian Railways CN.
The railway freight industry has not gone far in the electrification process, and is more willing to go smoothly on the record of improved diesel fuel efficiency in recent years, and its emissions have been reduced compared with diesel trucks. The American Association of Railroads estimates that only 25% of railroads using alternative railroads for at least 750 miles of truck trips will reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 13.1 million tons per year.
AAR seems to have set its sights on transferring 50% of long-distance trucking to railroads, but this may involve building more rail capacity. Unless there are some backup rights, it will be a difficult process-wandering all the way.
On the other hand, AAR provides a good reason for building more capacity, especially considering the bottleneck of goods and labor shortages that plagued the global economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
"A freight train... can replace hundreds of trucks and free up space on the highway for other drivers. AAR explained that moving freight from trucks to railways can also reduce highway wear and tear and build costly new highways. The pressure on highways, adding that “Highway congestion caused Americans to waste 166 billion US dollars of time (8.8 billion hours) and fuel (3.3 billion gallons) in 2017. "
AAR also pointed out that since the peak year of 2006, the increase in diesel fuel efficiency has greatly reduced the greenhouse gas emissions of American rail freight.
The issue of road wear provides a good point of view for the electrification of transportation in the freight industry. Zero-emission vehicles are only one part of the carbon puzzle, which also involves building and maintaining roads, as well as maintaining vehicles and their drivers.
In addition, for all the excitement of electrification and zero-emission tailpipes, almost no one wants to talk about the traces of tire materials and road particles left by electric cars when they rub tires on the road.
These particles are actually a major event for the tire industry, and the tire industry has been working hard to find ways to prevent them from affecting the global pollution problem.
Despite this, automakers will still bring the entire fleet of zero-emission battery electric trucks and fuel cell electric trucks to the highway in the next few years, whether there are particles or not. If railway stakeholders want their reasons for building new railways to be valid, they need to keep up with trucks in terms of electrification.
What needs to be clear is that electrification has been an important part of railway history for several generations, but mainly in the form of passenger trains. The electrification of long-distance rail freight still has a long way to go, but CN's goal is to make things go smoothly.
Earlier this week, CN announced the acquisition of North America's first 100% battery-powered freight locomotive, the so-called FLXdrive locomotive manufactured by the Pittsburgh company Wabtec.
CN and Wabtec credit the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for supporting the transaction through its Ocean and Rail Freight Porter Grant Program. The new locomotives will be shipped to Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company, a CN subsidiary in western Pennsylvania.
As an indicator of the electrification challenge in the freight railway sector, CN clearly does not intend to allow B&LE to send new electric locomotives to the track alone. It pairs the new zero-emission locomotive with Westinghouse Brake's latest generation of fuel-efficient locomotives.
CN predicts that the fuel consumption and emissions of this hybrid configuration can be reduced by up to 30%. Although it is not as good as fully electrified, it is still quite good compared to the current practice. If everything goes according to plan, CN hopes that the combination of fuel efficiency and electrification will provide itself and other railway companies with a meaningful decarbonization ladder.
Our friends on goerie.com, the Erie, Pennsylvania website, added some details to help train observers discover the latest milestones in electrification.
The B&LE Railway runs from Penn Hills in the suburbs of Pittsburgh to the town of Conneaut in Ohio, about 139 miles. You should be able to spot the new electric train at some point in between.
According to goerie.com, Wabtec has tested a new electric locomotive version with a battery capacity of 2.4 MWh, but CN predicts that the time span will climb to 7 MWh by the time of delivery, which is expected until sometime in 2023. It will be held only then, so unless you plan to camp outside for a while, don’t rush to find the best train observation point along the way.
All this focus on electrification puts railway companies like CN in a tricky position. Compared with transporting goods on highways, railways can reduce emissions, but their role in supporting the fossil energy supply chain casts a huge shadow on its decarbonization efforts.
For example, CN currently transports an average of 45 million tons of coal each year. The company also directly serves 13 coal mines, 7 petcoke facilities and 7 major export terminals.
As stated on its website, the company is also involved in petrochemical pots:
"CN provides our petroleum and chemical customers with an unparalleled competitive advantage. As the only railway serving the three major petrochemical hubs in North America, we provide customers with the ability to use a single rail carrier from origin to destination... We Work closely with customers to share our best practices to help them reduce costs and improve efficiency while connecting manufacturers with their suppliers and markets.”
Oh, baby steps. It seems that the electrification of long-distance freight trains will not happen soon, but at the same time, the railway company expects to make progress in the short term to electrify the switch locomotives, cranes and other equipment used in railway yards and container ports.
Switcher locomotives work in the railway yard, so they don't travel long distances, but they do work for a long time, and all these diesel emissions add up. In recent years, with the development of the environmental justice movement, more and more attention has been paid to the pollution of railway yards, which has provided railway companies with more electrification power.
In addition to battery power technology, at least one railway company is testing zero-emission fuel cell power switch locomotives. Considering that fuel cell power technology is also being used for the electrification of passenger rail travel for the construction of new overhead lines along the route, this makes sense. of. If it is not impossible, it is impractical.
Hybrid power also includes solar energy, so one day in a shining green future, look out for box cars decorated with solar panels.
Follow me on Twitter @TinaMCasey.
Photo: CN's battery-powered locomotive is provided by Wabtec Corporation.
Tina specializes in military and corporate sustainability, advanced technologies, emerging materials, biofuels, and water and wastewater issues. The opinions expressed are her own. Follow her on Twitter @TinaMCasey and Google+.
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