advertisement

---

Last week, officials at Port Manatee, Fla., learned they would receive about $2.5 million in federal grant monies from the U.S. Maritime Administration to help purchase two new locomotives. The funds would come from a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery II grant.

The locomotives, which are projected to cost about $3 million in total, will help the port better serve existing and new customers, as well as establish the port among the top two or three in Florida offering "superior" rail service, port officials said in an announcement. The port operates its own rail system, which connects with a CSX Transportation line.

The port currently owns one used locomotive, which would be sold to help fund the purchase of the new locomotives.

Meanwhile, Gulf & Ohio Railways Inc. recently began marketing two newly developed repowered locomotives: a KLW20B 12-cylinder, four-axle, 2,400-horsepower model, and a KLW30C 16-cylinder, six-axle, 3,200-horsepower model.

The company repowered GP units with either a 12- or 16-cylinder MTU Tier III ultra-low-emission locomotive engine. The engine achieves the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Tier III emission standard without exhaust gas after-treatment, according to Gulf & Ohio Railways officials.

The locomotive models feature service-proven components with a microprocessor and a standard electrical system, including the AR10 and standard electrical cabinet, they said.

Gulf & Ohio Railways plans to send one of the locomotives to a Class I soon as a demonstration unit.