Genesee & Wyoming short line employs two Tier 4 locomotives in California

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) announced two new Tier 4-compliant locomotives completed trials and now are in service at its California Northern Railroad Co. (CFNR) subsidiary.
 
The locomotives were built by Knoxville Locomotive Works and purchased in part with $3.7 million in grant funding from California’s Bay Area Air Quality Management District, a regional agency responsible for protecting air quality in the nine-county San Francisco Bay area.
 
Featuring high-efficiency, 12-cylinder MTU engines, the 2,400-horsepower diesel locomotives use selective catalytic reduction technology to meet Tier 4 air emission requirements set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, G&W officials said in a press release.

The units are expected to provide fuel savings of 25 percent and cut carbon dioxide and oxides of nitrogen emissions by 80 percent compared with the two circa-1976 locomotives they replaced, the officials said.

CFNR operates 256 miles of track between Los Banos and Tehama, Calif., and registers about 25,000 carloads annually. Acquired by G&W in 2012, the short line interchanges with Union Pacific Railroad and the Northwestern Pacific Railroad network. Commodities transported include agricultural products, animal feed, beer and wine, chemicals, cheese, construction products, lumber and steel.
 
"Short lines such as the California Northern … are small businesses with duty cycles that don't require brand new locomotives," said CFNR President Brad Ovitt. "We're grateful to the air district for making the purchase of these two low-emission, state-of-the-art locomotives feasible."