Erie-built hybrid locomotive ready when buyers are

By JIM MARTIN
jim.martin@timesnews.com
Five years have passed since GE Transportation unveiled, with considerable fanfare, its plans for a hybrid freight locomotive.


The mock-up cab shown off at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., was emblazoned with the target release date of 2010.
Now, five years later, that date has arrived. And although a prototype of the hybrid has been rumbling along the rails for three years, there are no plans to start production anytime soon.
GE Transportation, a Lawrence Park Township-based business unit of the General Electric Co., insists the hybrid project has not come off the rails.
In fact, company spokesman Stephan Koller said the company could probably have a hybrid ready to go by the end of the year if a customer wanted one.
But no one seems to be clamoring to place an order.
Like a hybrid car, a hybrid locomotive offers two key advantages: increased fuel efficiency and decreased emissions.
But the hybrid, which can provide an additional 2,000 horsepower on a temporary basis, will also come at a premium price, Koller said. He declined to characterize how much more the hybrid will cost.
"Everybody wants to increase fuel efficiency and lower emissions, and hybrid technology will help meet these requirements," he said. "But with oil prices as they are today, there is not a compelling reason for a railroad customer to switch."
Higher fuel prices, tougher emissions standards or even a better economy could change that and make companies more willing to invest.
"You've got to be ready when the market is ready," Koller said. "Currently the market is maybe a little conservative."
Although GE Transportation said it could have a hybrid ready based on the existing prototype, Koller said the battery technology, which already has won 30 patents, continues to evolve and is expected to improve.
"Getting the battery right is the core technology for any type of hybrid propulsion," he said.
The GE hybrid will use a sodium-metal battery built at a new $100 million battery plant in Schenectady, N.Y. The plant is expected to open in 2011 and employ about 350 people.
Why move ahead with the battery plant when the hybrid project appears to be in slow gear?
Koller said the batteries that will eventually be found aboard Evolution hybrids are also used in backup power systems for the telecommunications industry and for other applications.
At least in the short term, that's likely how the majority of those batteries will be used, he said.
"For energy and telecommunications, there is real interest and real demand for an energy-storage system," Koller said. "You have to look at the market that could potentially grow. Currently, the market for the rail industry is probably not as strong."
Tom Lange, spokesman for Union Pacific Railroad, wouldn't speak to the issue of GE Transportation's hybrid, but stressed that domestic demand for freight locomotives remains weak.
"We are not in the market to purchase locomotives," he said. "We (Union Pacific) have more than 1,300 locomotives in storage. Based on the global economy, we are not in the market for locomotives."
The Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, the largest regional railroad in western Pennsylvania, isn't usually a customer for new locomotives either.
Gene Evans, vice president-mechanical for the Rochester-based railroad, said his company generally operates with older, used locomotives.
But Evans said the company expects in July to commission the first of two GenSet locomotives, which are similar to hybrids in that they significantly reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
The purchase was made possible through a public-private partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, but that doesn't mean the decision was easy.
"It's always a balancing act between the cost of developing or building new locomotive technology vs. fuel savings," Evans said.
At at time when the industry is struggling to get back on its feet, rail customers across the country will have to make their own decisions about that balance.
And that's why the pale green GE Transportation hybrid -- home now from testing in California -- will be tested and improved some more, but won't likely be rushed to market.
"We need an environment that will justify the investment," Koller said.
JIM MARTIN can be reached at 870-1668 or by e-mail.