CSX Selects Wabtec for Power Upgrades

CSX is teaming with Wabtec to modernize locomotives across its fleet, boosting their fuel efficiency and reducing emissions.

They will work on three initiatives:

1. CSX will be the first to demonstrate Wabtec’s Trip Optimizer Zero-to-Zero system that allows railroads “to start a train from zero mph and stop the train automatically using various controls,” according to the manufacturer. The technology builds on Trip Optimizer, which “has saved railroads more than 400 million gallons of fuel since its inception and reduces CO2 emissions by over 500,000 tons per year,” Wabtec said.
   
2. Wabtec’s new Tier 4 switcher modernization program will be used for CSX’s fleet. The program upgrades 40- to 50-year-old locomotives and Tier 0 non-emissions switchers to the latest Wabtec Tier 4 platform, and is said to provide “an additional 20% improvement in fuel efficiency and 90% reduction in emissions.” It does not require a urea after-treatment system. Each re-powered unit “will eliminate up to 90 tons of CO2 and 7 tons of NOx reduction per year,” according to the manufacturer. 
   
3. Wabtec’s FDL Advantage engine upgrade program will be used for locomotives across CSX’s fleet. The program “provides up to an additional 5% reduction in fuel consumption through a high-pressure common rail fuel system offering improved injection control,” Wabtec said. “These modernizations are reducing the carbon footprint by as much as 250 tons of CO2 per locomotive per year.” (Wabtec announced its FDL Advantage offering at Railway Interchange 2019.)

“We are excited to partner with Wabtec on advanced solutions that will transform our fleet while improving our carbon footprint,” said CSX Executive Vice President of Operations Jamie Boychuk, who was named one of Railway Age’s 2020 Readers’ Most Influential Leaders. “By modernizing our fleet and implementing the new Trip Optimizer Zero-to-Zero, Wabtec’s sustainable technologies will help CSX achieve our climate goals.”

CSX has a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 37% by 2030.