CSX unveils new low-emission GenSet locomotive at Selkirk Yards
CSX’s newest piece of equipment may not be more powerful than its other locomotives, but under the hood is a design that lends something even more important than power in today’s world: efficiency.
The railroad on Thursday, June 30, unveiled its new GenSet locomotive for the company’s Selkirk rail yard, the first of its size and the company’s second such locomotive operating in New York State. The locomotive will be used exclusively within the rail yard, and should greatly reduce emissions and fuel usage through a more efficient design.
The GenSet design represents the next generation of locomotive technology, said CSX Vice President Skip Elliott.
`At CSX, we know what’s good for the environment is good for our business,` Elliott said at a press conference introducing the locomotive.
The GenSet design (short for Generator Set) is really about making the best use of an engine’s capacity. Rather than using one big engine, the locomotive runs off of three, 700-horsepower diesel engines that can be cycled on or off depending on the power requirement. This, along with innovations that allow it to start more quickly and thus avoid idling means the GenSet locomotive uses 20 percent less fuel than a comparable standard model.
That in turn means an 80-percent reduction in the amount of particulate matter the engine expels, and a 25-percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
The GenSet engine is going to only run within the Selkirk rail yard. CSX has another such unit operating in the Bronx and in other places around the country, but Selkirk’s locomotive is the first six-axle design; the rest have all had two axles.
CSX got a hand with the GenSet project from the federal government. The Environmental Protection Agency directed $1 million worth of recovery money to the state Department of Transportation, which was invested in this GenSet locomotive. CSX funded the remaining $400,000.
`Global warming can become a pretty complicated, big issue, but I think it’s little steps…that hold the most promise,` said Judith Enck, EPA administrator for the region. `Clean air is a top priority for the Environmental Protection Agency.`
There were many other officials on hand on Thursday, including Bethlehem Town Supervisor Sam Messina, Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, R-Melrose, and DOT Executive Deputy Commissioner Stanley Gee.
Speakers at the event lauded the role of rail transportation in the United State’s future, especially as energy and travel becomes more costly. Elliott claimed that a train can move one ton of freight 500 miles on a single gallon of gas, and said CSX trains are capable of hauling the equivalent of 280 trucks worth of freight.
`This is exactly what we need,` McLaughlin said. `CSX is not only talking the talk, but walking the walk.`
Elliott said the roll out of GenSet locomotives will continue throughout CSX’s network, but he also emphasized that it’s still a new technology and like many burgeoning products still has kinks to be worked out.
`We’ll continue to invest in this type of technology,` he added.“
