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Union Pacific Railroad and Caterpillar Inc.’s Progress Rail Services soon will begin testing a 1970s vintage SD40-2 that has been retrofitted with a low-emission 3,005 horsepower Caterpillar engine.

The test — the first of its kind on an intermediate-haul locomotive, according to the companies — will be conducted later this month at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The equipment hasn’t yet been fitted onto a full-scale locomotive platform or tested in an operating environment. UP and Progress Rail Services will field-test the locomotive in a controlled local application to closely monitor its performance and durability over the testing period.

The clean-diesel engine, model 3516C-HD, exceeds the EPA’s Tier 2 locomotive emissions requirements and features advanced emission control technologies, UP said. The engine has more power than a typical 2,000-horsepower Genset switcher used around terminals, but less than a traditional 4,400-horsepower line-haul locomotive used for transcontinental freight service.