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Transport Minister David Collenette and Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal Aug. 28 announced that Canada will provide more than $373,000 in Freight Sustainability Demonstration Program funds for five rail-related projects.


Launched in November 2001, the program allocates $4.5 million over five years for projects designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in freight transportation. The program's contributions would cover up to 50 percent of eligible project expenses to a maximum of $250,000.


The funding recipients are:


• Kelsan Technologies Corp., $227,384 for its project to demonstrate and measure the effect of top-of-rail friction control on locomotive fuel consumption and GHG emissions (project partners include Canadian National Railway Co., Canadian Pacific Railway and National Research Council of Canada);

• Athabasca Northern Railway Ltd., $48,000 to install diesel-driven heating systems on two GP-9 locomotives aimed at helping reduce idling time, and lower fuel consumption and GHG emissions;

• Southern Railways of British Columbia, $25,000 to install ZTR Control System’s SmartStart technology, which is designed to automatically shut down and restart locomotives to reduce idling, and lower fuel consumption and GHG emissions;

• Genesee and Wyoming Inc. and Huron Central Railway, $23,300 to install electric locomotive layover heating systems on two units, which is designed to shut down the locomotive's diesel engines during layover periods to reduce unnecessary idling, and lower fuel consumption and GHG emissions; and

• Nexus North, $50,000 for a new container express service that would use self-loading container-chassis technology designed to transfer marine containers to and from different transportation modes, and help reduce GHG emissions.