Mexican railways seek assistance on “green” locomotives
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefThe U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has released an RFP (Request for Proposals) for a U.S. consulting-engineering firm to provide technical assistance for the Asociación Mexicana de Ferrocarriles A.C.’s (AMF) “Green Locomotive Technologies” study in Mexico.
The objective of the study “is to promote the adoption of advanced motive-power technologies throughout Mexico’s freight locomotive fleet to reduce air emissions and increase fuel efficiency,” USTDA said. “The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $590,358 grant to AMF.”
The Seneca Group LLC, scoped this study as a contractor to USTDA, working with the Mexican railroads. “It should be of interest to the consulting-engineering community, which can bid to perform the study, and execution of the study should create opportunities for U.S. motive-power vendors,” said Seneca Group SeniorAssociate Richard Sherman.
The selected firm will assist AMF and its member companies in their efforts to adopt modern motive power technologies to improve the efficiency of the country’s freight locomotives, while at the same time lowering air emissions, by evaluating the technical, economic, financial, environmental, and regulatory aspects of locomotive upgrades in Mexico’s freight rail transportation industry. The study will focus on the latest innovations in diesel locomotives, including freight locomotives that comply with stringent air emissions criteria, hybrid power locomotives, and genset locomotives with advanced control systems that produce variable power. The study will also assess the use of advanced APUs (auxiliary power units) to retrofit older freight locomotives, emissions control systems, idle reduction technologies, computerized remote monitoring systems, information systems and software for asset management, and voice/data communications systems. To spur investments in freight locomotive and motive power modernization, the study will examine the potential development of federal- and state-level government incentive programs in Mexico. In addition, the study will identify potential pilot programs in Mexico that could demonstrate the capabilities of advanced non-diesel motive power fuels, such as liquefied natural gas.
Full details on the RFP are available by accessing the USTDA website page.
