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Later this month, Johnstown America Corp. expects to deliver the last of 600 aluminum coal cars to Union Pacific Railroad.

UP's order comprises 240 BethGon™ II gondolas and 360 AutoFlood III™ automatic-discharge coal hoppers, which the railroad plans to use to move coal from Colorado mines to various utilities.

"This acquisition supports Union Pacific's 'Car of the Future' strategy, which is a process of standardizing equipment types and upgrading our fleet to higher capacity 286,000-pound gross rail-load capability," said Karen Watson, UP general director-mechanical purchasing, in a prepared statement.

BethGon II and AutoFlood III cars are designed with a lighter tare weight, and feature more loading capacity and durability to meet long-haul coal-train service demands, according to Johnstown America.