M636C, those are my thoughts as well. I am a bit worried that they won’t actually build enough Tier IV units this year due to bugs, certification problems or something else. I think EMD will be succesful, but I hope their decision to build a lot of credit units without having production Tier IV units doesn’t end up hurting them.
Few UP and BNSF SD70ACe’s/AH’s were fitted with fabricated HTCR-6 trucks (aka bogies) same trucks as used on SD70ACe-T4; noted in this thread linked below.
NS 1000 is testing them as well, alongside BNSF 9092 and UP 8949.
It is a while since I read the Tier 4 Credit Unit regulations, but does EMD have to complete the Tier 4 units earning the credit in the same calendar year, or within twelve months of the credit unit being produced? The latter would give them more time, of course. My reading suggested that building of credit units was not limited to the first year of Tier 4 locomotive production.
M636C
It’s unclear to me if it’s within the same calendar year or simply 12 months from the production of the credit unit. I suspect the latter simply because it would be hard to complete orders that came in later in the year otherwise. And Credit units are allowed for as long as there are credits available to use I would think. GE has been building them for more than 1 year.
New UP locomotives 9017, 9018 and 9019 seen by myself yesterday in the freight yard in Mexico City north of Fortuna suburban station. Probably just delivered from Bombardier in Sahagun and soon to be sent north to the UP.