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Supply Side: Wabtec, Actasys/Alstom

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
(Image Courtesy of Wabtec via LinkedIn)

(Image Courtesy of Wabtec via LinkedIn)

Wabtec Corporation has earned a “Commercial Technology of the Year” award from S&P Global Commodity Insights. Also, thermal device management firm Actasys Inc. has signed a development agreement with Alstom.

Wabtec on Dec. 8 received a “Commercial Technology of the Year” award for its FLXdrive™ battery-electric locomotive from S&P Global Commodity Insights, a provider of energy and commodities information and a source of benchmark price assessments in the physical commodity markets, which launched with the 1909 establishment of National Petroleum News magazine by Warren C. Platt. The award was one of 19 presented at the 24th annual Platts Global Energy Awards ceremony in New York.

The awards recognize “leadership, innovation and exemplary performance” in 19 categories, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. “Winners were selected from hundreds of nominations representing 26 countries, following an intensive review by an impartial panel of judges: international energy experts with backgrounds in regulation, policymaking, corporate leadership, trading and strategic consulting.”

According to the S&P Commodity Insights award article, “Judges liked that Wabtec has ‘engaged a lot of customers’ and is ‘already generating revenue,’ with FLXdrive orders from … Union Pacific, BHP Group and Rio Tinto. They see FLXdrive’s potential to ‘cut down pollution in major areas’ and help to achieve a more sustainable transportation network.”

The article noted that Wabtec “aims to help railroads reduce their fuel costs and carbon footprint … with its commercial launch of the world’s first heavy-haul 100% battery-powered locomotive. The FLXdrive’s battery cells replace the traditional diesel engine, supplying the energy to power its 430,000-pound frame and pull a mile-long, cargo-laden freight train. Wabtec estimates that each diesel-powered locomotive converted to alternative energy sources can eliminate up to 3,000 tons of CO2 per year.”

“We are inspired by this recognition and even more determined to accelerate the future of transportation,” Wabtec wrote in a Dec. 12 LinkedIn post.

Actasys CEO Miles Flamenbaum

Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Actasys on Dec. 12 reported entering into a development agreement with Alstom to implement its “energy-efficient thermal management devices into Alstom train control and monitoring systems for functionality enhancement and oversight assurance.”

According to Actasys, electric-powered technologies—such as “electric train solutions pioneered by Alstom—include components that heat up and need to be cooled in order to function properly and maximize lifespan. Actasys’s Total Thermal™ technology … [performs] thanks to energy-efficient, digitized cooling devices with embedded health monitoring capabilities that detect and mitigate performance degradation. Combining diagnostic and predictive maintenance features in cooling devices reduces energy costs while improving maintenance outcomes.”

“Our thermal management devices resolve a critical need for the sensitive electric-powered technologies Alstom develops, which will play a significant role in the sustainable transportation and mobility strategies of the future,” Actasys CEO Miles Flamenbaum said.

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