MONTREAL, Quebec — Canadian National has begun taking delivery of 22 new ES44ACs from General Electric. The locomotives are built at GE’s Fort Worth plant and shipped to CN in Memphis, Tenn., by BNSF Railway. From there, CN is moving them north across the border for service primarily in western Canada.
These locomotives meet only Tier 3 emission standards but are able to operate in the United States using emission credits. The current emission standard, Tier 4, took effect Jan. 1, 2015. Road numbers for this ES44AC order are CN Nos. 2984 to 2999 and 3800 to 3805.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Canadian National’s 2017 order was for non-credit units and would be operationally restricted to Canada. We regret the error. Oct. 11, 2017. 7:39 p.m. Central time.
To clarify once again: EPA Tiers for diesel locomotives have nothing to do with Global Warming / Climate Change. They deal primarily with NOx, which causes smog, and Particulate Matter (PM), which is known to have negative health effects, including being considered carcinogenic. They do not address GHG emissions reduction and we have no CAFE standards for diesel locomotives. No one disagrees that NOx emissions cause smog or that urban areas have major air quality problems. That is what the EPA locomotive Tier standards address, not GHG emissions. So to suggest that Canada allowing Tier 3 vs. Tier 4 has anything to do with GHG emissions is a mistaken view. In fact, since it appears that the Tier 3 GE locomotives may have better fuel economy than the the Tier 4 GE locomotives (due to the Tier 4 heavy use of EGR for NOx control), a railroad or country that goes with Tier 3 locomotives would actually be opting for a LOWER GHG output, thus by Jerry Conaway’s comment what they would be saying is they DO BELIEVE THAT GHG CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING. So, Jerry Conaway, while I am not arguing for or against your stance on Global Warming, if you are a GW believer who does not run locomotives in badly polluted urban areas, you would want the Tier 3 for its reduced GHG emissions rather than a Tier 4 locomotive with its presumed higher GHG emissions. So your logic is actually backwards on this one. The Canadians are actually supporting lower GHG emissions by buying Tier 3 vs. Tier 4 locomotives.
Love some of the comments. You can’t escape Fox News or Breitbart anywhere it seems. The name calling is really gratifying. We’ll be arguing about religion next.
Turdcotte, i’m might sufficiently familiar enough with it to know that when it comes to these things, the hippie-libs such as yourself make no differentiation between sulphur dioxide, methane, cow farts, or locomotives. All they know is that some hick from Tennessee made a movie of half truths and misinformation about GW, so ANYTHING that belches smoke must be evil, therefore a bazillion dollars must be spent to regulate it. It’s the greatest scam ever pulled on mankind, and we the people are expected to pay through the nose for it.
Gerald, man may contribute to the cycle, but I would not necessarily say they make it worse. There have been far worse extinction events where almost all terrestrial life was wiped out due to ocean heating, methane release, and acidification, and it all happened long before human’s ever existed.
And what about the Bears mentioned in last Friday’s column? Tier 3 emissions will probably add one additional Dead bear every hundred seventy-five years due to train pollution
As far as emission reducing, I am in favor of running electric locomotives powered by water power as the Milwaukee Road. did in the earl 20th century. Lots of maintenance with the wires and such, though. Emissions would be zero, though. Just a thought.
Why isn t more locomotives like this being bought from Electro Motive Diesel??????????There is really nothing special about this locomotive maker in light they do have monopoly on new locomotive sales.C mon you 7 class one railroads you just can t keep returning to the same business while ignoring the other. Sales of 4-1 is definitely a monopoly here.It also explains why the nearby NS mainline here literally drunk with D9-44CWs.Trade some of to get some SD70ACES
Jerry, the EPA emission regulations target sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and fine particules. Global-warming is, among other things, mainly driven by carbon dioxide, methane and fluorous gases. Learn before criticizing a complex phenomenon for which you obviously are not sufficiently familiar, and please stop your immature name-calling.
Jerry Conway…you’re half correct in that it is a natural cycle, however that cycle usually takes place over a much longer stretch of time than is currently happening…we as humans have greatly accelerated the cycle so much that it will be more detrimental than a normal one, that’s the problem. It’s also not so much an issue with Tier 4 doing a greater job at reducing emissions from diesels that affect global warming as it is with reducing particulate matter and nox(both of with are considerably more harmful to the human body than the planet).
Maybe they realize that while Global Warming is real, it is actually a natural cycle that has been going on since the beginning of Earth itself, and that blaming it entirely on human activities amounts to a great-big money making scheme for those who are hawking emissions reducing technologies. Kudos to the Canadians for giving the US EPA and the tree-hugging hipsters a great big middle finger!
Up next, restrictions on the export of non-Tier compliant technology. Gotta plug up that loophole and make everybody pay!
Hmm, tier 3? I thot our Canadian friends were much more ecofriendly. what do they know that we do not?