Union Pacific Railroad unveils experimental locomotive to test emissions-reduction technology

22 August 2012

Union Pacific Railroad unveiled an advanced experimental locomotive at its J.R. Davis Yard in Roseville that will test three emissions-reducing technologies including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC), and diesel particulate filters (DPF). (Earlier post.)

Years in development, UP 9900 will be used for operations in northern California ranging approximately 200 miles from its base in Roseville. UP 9900 is the signature unit in a series of 25 locomotives that Union Pacific is analyzing as part of a broad test of various emissions-reduction techniques in northern and southern California.

Union Pacific engineers worked closely with locomotive manufacturer Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) to reduce the standard freight locomotive engine size in UP 9900 to create the space needed to install EGR, DOC, and DPF. All three technologies will be used simultaneously in UP 9900 testing and are expected to help Union Pacific further pursue developing a locomotive that meets the U.S. EPA’s Tier 4 emission standard.

To create the space needed to install the aftertreatment technology in the body of the locomotive, engineers reduced the engine size of a long haul locomotive used to move a train cross-country. Union Pacific and EMD expect UP 9900 to move toward the Tier 4 standard with a 45% reduction in the oxides of nitrogen emissions compared to the Tier 2 standard and an 85% reduction in particulate matter emissions based on preliminary analysis. Union Pacific and the California Air Resources Board will jointly analyze the locomotive’s emissions-reductions capability over the next 18 months.