Canadian National Railway Company (CN) announced the purchase of Wabtec’s FLXdrive battery-electric freight locomotive, the first to join its 19,500-mile rail network. The purchase was part of CN’s sustainability strategy to reduce freight transportation emissions and will be supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
CN ($CNI) is a railway company in operation since 1919, safely transporting over 300 million tons of natural resources, products, and finished goods throughout North America each year.
The company is currently the most fuel-efficient railway in North America, using approximately 15% less locomotive fuel per gross ton-mile than the industry average.
Presumably this is testing on B&LE to stay reasonably close to Erie during the testing.
I think it’s pretty clear it’s an experimental acquisition. Especially on B&LE I’d expect the real first best use of the FLXdrive to be as the ‘hybrid enablement’ of a diesel or zero-carbon 12- or 18-motor semidedicated consist, not as a pure standalone.
This is interesting… CP is testing hydrogen power and CN is going in for battery… We shall see which is better. Likely another transition era come up soon.
