If electrical industry pioneer and railroad air brake inventor George Westinghouse, who hailed from New York State but established his namesake company in Pittsburgh, Pa., were around to see the Wabtec (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies) FLXdrive battery locomotive, he’d be shocked—figuratively, of course.
RAILWAY AGE, FEBRUARY 2021 ISSUE: First steam. Then Electric. Then diesel. Then batteries. Next: Hydrogen fuel cells?
BNSF Railway and Wabtec have begun testing a battery-electric locomotive (BEL) in revenue service between Barstow and Stockton, Calif. The BEL, sandwiched in between two Wabtec Tier 4 diesel-electric locomotives, creates what is described as a “battery-electric hybrid consist.” All three units power the train in main line operations.
