Vancouver grain terminal running new low emission locomotive

Vancouver grain terminal running new low emission locomotive Canadian grain handling firm Viterra Inc. said Wednesday it has finished successful operational testing of a new high-efficiency, low-emission locomotive, and the unit will move into regular operation at the firm's Pacific grain terminal in the Canadian Port of Vancouver.
   The acquisition of the N-ViroMotive GenSet locomotive from Mt. Vernon, Ill.-based National Railway Equipment Co. is being partially funded through the Canadian government's Freight Technology Incentives Program that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions in freight operations.
   The two-week operational test of the NREC 1,400-horsepower locomotive found the new unit offers substantially more pulling power than Pacific's existing 1,200 horsepower engine.
   'Though we knew this engine was a big fuel saver with extremely low emissions, we were astonished at its tractive effort,' said Bill Mooney, Viterra's director of terminals. 'While using only one of the NREC locomotive's two GenSets, we could pull 28 loaded grain cars at a time from the staging tracks over a railroad grade crossing to our elevators, versus only 12 cars when using our 1,200-hp unit. This means we can cut the number of times we block that very busy crossing by one-half to one-third.”
   In addition to improved operational efficiency, the new locomotive uses 40 percent to 65 percent less fuel and emits 80 percent less nitrous oxide and particulate matter emissions than previous locomotives used by the firm.