Seems most Northern California shortlines have tested or are testing these out. This includes MET, CFNR, Richmond Pacific and I think a couple others and now Sacramento Valley. http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle+articleid_2299141~zoneid_Home~title_Sacramento-Valley.html Sacramento Valley Railroad to Test Environmentally Friendly Locomotive By: iStockAnalyst, Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:51 AM Patriot Rail Corp. subsidiary, Sacramento Valley Railroad ("SAV"), today announced that it will test an environmentally friendly, state-of-the-art low emission locomotive this month. This test is the result of SAV´s efforts to seek ways to help reduce air emissions in the Sacramento, California, region. The 2,000 horsepower RP20BD locomotive, provided by Railpower Technologies Corp. ("Railpower"), will be on loan to SAV for two weeks. The three engine multi-purpose GenSet locomotive utilizes Railpower´s patented common DC buss design to provide maximum operating efficiency -- a 30% to 50% fuel savings versus conventional locomotives in similar duty cycles and approximately 70% to 90% reduction of NOx emission in both yard and road switching applications. Additionally, a modular component design significantly reduces maintenance and component replacement costs. The RP20BD locomotive is classified as "Ultra Low Emitting Locomotive" under California Air Resource Board's criteria. SAV, based in McClellan, California, provides exclusive rail freight services on 7 miles of rail line at McClellan Business Park. McClellan Business Park, a 3,000-acre business park located near Sacramento, California, has more than 2.4 million square feet of rail-served facilities, including 155 industrial buildings, 35 warehouses and a 10-acre rail transloading yard. SAV interchanges rail traffic with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads. "The RP20BD locomotive is a perfect fit for the stop-and-go switching operations at SAV. With its innovative use of three engines, this locomotive produces power when needed while reducing emissions and using less fuel when idling," said Stan Wlotko, Senior Vice President - Operations, of Patriot Rail Corp. "Railpower is a leader in this technology and we appreciate them letting us test this locomotive. We are excited about possibly utilizing locomotives like these on all of our railroads, not only for the positive impact on the environment but for the operational efficiencies as well." Mitch Gillispie, Railpower Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, North America, said, "The fuel savings and emissions reduction that our Eco-Motive line of locomotives provides to our customers represent only half of the Railpower value story. Using our proprietary control system, Railpower´s family of Eco-Motive locomotives significantly improves tractive effort by up to 80%, when compared to a conventional locomotive, depending on model and application. For a short line like SAV, this means almost a 1 for 2 replacement ratio, allowing them to pull more with less." Patriot Rail Corp. is a short line and regional freight railroad holding company based in Boca Raton, Florida. The Company owns and operates five short line freight railroads comprising 321 total rail miles: the Tennessee Southern Railroad in Tennessee and Alabama; the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway in Montana; the Utah Central Railway in Utah; the Sacramento Valley Railroad in California; and the Louisiana & North West Railroad in Louisiana and Arkansas. For more information on Patriot Rail Corp. contact Wayne August, Director Corporate Development, at (561) 443-5315 or visit us at Patriot Rail, Owner and Operator of Short Line and Regional Freight Railroads. Railpower, based in Quebec, Canada, is the first company to successfully build control systems for multiple energy sources on a single locomotive platform using today´s advanced technology and controls for improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. It is this technology and associated patents that have put Railpower at the leading edge of change in multi-engine yard and road switcher locomotives. Currently, Railpower has 105 GenSet locomotives in service. Patriot Rail Corp., Boca Raton Wayne August, 561-443-5315 Patriot Rail, Owner and Operator of Short Line and Regional Freight Railroads. (Source: Business Wire )
