Union Pacific Railroad and Progress Rail Services will begin initial operation this month of an ultra clean diesel SD40-2 locomotive equipped for intermediate line-haul service. The customer evaluation unit, equipped with modern after-treatment, will have an initial revenue-service run between UP's San Antonio and Fort Worth service units, respectively.
The Progress Rail PR30C-LoNOx Locomotive has been re-powered with a single 3,005 horsepower, low-emission, Caterpillar clean-diesel engine. It meets EPA's Tier 2 standards and is retrofitted with advanced emission control technology. That technology routes the exhaust through a diesel oxidation catalyst prior to entering the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) chamber, where NOx emissions are reduced by more than 90 percent from the original 1970s vintage engine.
"The use of after treatment to reach these levels of emissions is new territory for the rail industry and we are pleased to be the first with SCR for large mobile engine applications," said Progress Rail CEO Billy Ainsworth.