Commentary

CEO PERSPECTIVE: Strategic Priorities: Safety, Sustainability

Written by John Newman, President and CEO, Progress Rail

John Newman, President and CEO, Progress Rail

As part of a special series in Railway Age’s April 2023 issue, 13 chief executives of leading North American companies answer the single-most critical question: What is the biggest challenge facing the North American rail industry? John Newman of Progress Rail is the eleventh to share his perspective.

Rail is one of the most efficient and sustainable means of transporting goods across North America, and as an industry, safety is at the forefront of all we do. At Progress Rail, we are committed to empowering our customers and the railroad industry to meet their individual and collective safety, sustainability and operational goals and commitments.

Progress Rail is a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. In our most recent Sustainability Report, Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby commented, “Our long-standing commitment to sustainability inspires us to set and achieve meaningful environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals and develop innovative products, technologies and services to support our customers on their sustainability journey.”

Progress Rail’s global rail customers are likewise focused on sustainability, with aggressive ESG targets that are changing the direction of the rail industry. In addition to being a strategic priority for our business, sustainability is one of Progress Rail’s five core values. We are continually expanding our product and services offerings with innovative solutions to help customers achieve both their business and climate-related goals.

For example, technologies such as Talos™, Nitro Suite Decision Support Solutions and Powerview™ help customers conserve energy while maximizing their operating efficiencies. Although each product functions independently, combining these individual technologies further enhances sustainability and operational benefits for our customers.

These advanced rail technology products also provide the opportunity for railroads to enhance safety across their networks by managing in-train forces (reducing break-in-twos), reducing yard congestion and identifying and alerting for buckled track and other track abnormalities.

Our Talos™ energy management platform offers overall fuel savings and emissions reductions up to 15% by using machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze locomotive engineer behavior, encode train runs and optimize operations. Talos leverages automation technology to control the train throttle and dynamic brakes, letting engineers focus on safety and situational awareness. Unlike other energy management products, Talos’ use of AI to improve train handling and manage in-train forces assists in the prevention of break-in-twos that can lead to derailments.

Combining AI and modern software engineering, our Nitro Suite of yard and network optimization tools is designed to help railroads significantly reduce congestion, which improves network velocity, decreases yard dwell time and minimizes noise and emission impacts in surrounding communities.

While PowerView began as a locomotive event recorder, through continued innovation and extensive collaboration with the Caterpillar automation team, it has grown into its own suite of products and applications that provides real-time asset tracking and performance and fuel monitoring to the back office.

According to AAR data, two of the top five causes of derailments in North America are buckled track and track geometry. PowerView Detect utilizes smart cameras, embedded machine vision algorithms and AI to examine and monitor track conditions and measure track deflections. Additional algorithms monitor ballast conditions and wayside infrastructure, as well as provide object detection. Combining smart camera data with locomotive operational data from the event recorder, PowerView Connect uses neural networking to identify data trends and generate custom alarms to warn operators and railroads of potentially dangerous track conditions.

In addition to these products, as a locomotive OEM and in line with our commitment to sustainability, Progress Rail is leveraging the scale of Caterpillar to accelerate alternative fuel options to the railroad industry. We believe our alternative fuel offerings—biodiesels, battery and hybrid and hydrogen, including modernization and repower options to extend the useful life of current fleets and make them more productive and reliable—will best position the railroads to meet and achieve their 2030 and 2050 decarbonization targets and commitments.

The men and women who walked before us developed an industry that truly serves as the backbone of the North America economy. Last year we celebrated the 100th anniversary of EMD, and 2023 marks the 40th year of Progress Rail. Personally, it is humbling to lead a team that has contributed so much to such an iconic and vital industry for North America and beyond. As I settle into my role as CEO and we work to build upon the foundation built by our predecessors, Progress Rail will strive to provide products and solutions across our track, signal, freight car and locomotive product lines that contribute to the safety, sustainability and operational goals of our customers and partners.