Union Pacific Railroad has
unveiled an experimental reduced emissions locomotive at its JR Davis Yard in Roseville,
California.
The UP 9900, which spent
years in development, is to be used for operations in Northern California ranging
about 200 miles from its Roseville base, according to the railroad. While in service,
it will test three emissions-reducing technologies: exhaust gas recirculation, diesel
oxidation catalysts and diesel particulate filters.
The train, according to
Union Pacific, is the signature unit in a series of 25 locomotives that UP is analyzing
as part of a broad test of various emissions-reduction techniques in both northern
and southern California.
Union Pacific engineers
worked with locomotive manufacturer Electro-Motive Diesel to reduce the standard
freight locomotive engine size in the UP 9900 to create the space needed to install
the emission reduction technologies.
UP says the three technologies
will be used simultaneously in UP 9900 testing, and are expected to help further
development of a locomotive that meets the US EPA’s Tier 4 emission standard.
Union Pacific and the California
Air Resources Board plan to jointly analyze the locomotive’s emissions-reductions
capability over the next 18 months.
The UP 9900 is scheduled
to be available for public viewing Saturday, Sept. 29 and Sunday, Sept. 30 in Old
Sacramento, California as part of the railroad’s community celebration, dubbed “Union
Pacific – Building America for 150 Years!” The event is a partnership with California
State Parks and the California State Railroad Museum, and commemorates 150 years
since President Abraham Lincoln created the original Union Pacific by signing the
Pacific Railway Act of July 1, 1862.
