NRE 4321 shoving strong after 16 weeks
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefBNSF has passed 16 weeks of testing a National Railway Equipment high-adhesion NR33CDE-IAC locomotive, an EMD SD40-2 that has been modified to increase tractive effort and adhesion. The unit, says NRE, is showing “promising results.”
NRE equipped the six-axle locomotive, No. 4321, with a 3,300hp-645E3-AR10-D78s extended DB propulsion platform. Equipped with NRE’s NFORCE microprocessor, traction control card and Independent Axle Control (IAC) modules, NRE says the locomotive is achieving a tractive effort of 33%-34%. Fully fueled, the locomotive weighs 192.5 tons (385,000 pounds)
NRE 4321’s operational testing “showed promising results at BNSF’s Galesburg, Ill., hump yard,” NRE said. “BNSF was able to hump the same amount of tonnage/cars (average 11,000 tons) by using 4321 with one remote control locomotive consistently, once the shove movement was at speed, using lower throttle notches than typically used on a three-unit SD40-2 hump set. This suggests BNSF could reduce the three-locomotive hump set in this yard by one locomotive and achieve significant fuel savings.”
“This technology can be applied to any four- or six-axle, DC-traction-motor-equipped, switch or line haul GE or EMD locomotive,” said NRE AVP Sales Keith Batley. “SD60s, SD75s, GPs and Dash 8s can be upgraded to achieve 33%-34% tractive effort at a fraction of the cost of a new locomotive. IAC control will improve adhesion by 50% over Dash 2 control. This technology gives mechanical departments the leverage of maintaining the low cost of a traditional single-engine propulsion package, and transportation departs like-new high adhesion performance in a maintainable asset. In heavy-trailing-tonnage, high-usage operation, IAC is all about asset utilization. Starting and maintain 50% more trailing tons save significant fuel and lowers maintenance cost through full asset utilization.”
