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RailPower Technologies Corp. is one step closer to the first sale of its hybrid Green Goat™ and Green Kid™ locomotives. On Jan. 14, the company announced the state of Texas will provide RailPower Texas Emissions Reduction Program (TERP) funds to help subsidize the cost of building seven environmentally friendly locomotives, which will be sold to Railserve Inc.

RailPower expects to complete paperwork on the funding and sales transactions by the end of February. A third-party in-plant switching, track-maintenance and rail services provider, Railserve plans to use six 1,000-horsepower Green Kids and one 2,000-horsepower Green Goat to serve customers in Brazoria County, Texas.

"The TERP funding jump-starts the introduction of our emissions-reducing hybrid locomotives into what is one of the most polluted regions in the United States, the Houston-Galveston area," said RailPower President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Maier in a prepared statement. "We are hoping for similar receptivity for the technology in California."

Featuring 130-horsepower diesel generators and long-life, recyclable batteries, Green Goats and Kids are designed to reduce NOx and diesel-particulate emissions 80 percent to 90 percent, and fuel consumption, about 50 percent to 80 percent, compared with a conventional switcher.

Affiliated with Union Tank Car Co., Trackmobile and Procor Ltd., Railserve operates a fleet of 127 locomotives.