New locomotive deliveries begin in 2015 with ‘Credit User’ provision NEWSWIRE

ERIE, Pa. – General Electric has begun shipping the first of its Tier 4 “Credit User” locomotives to customers this month. Both Canadian National and BNSF Railway are the first to receive new locomotives from GE’s Erie and Ft. Worth, Texas, plants, respectively. A Credit User locomotive is essentially a Tier 3 emissions-equipped locomotive built after the Jan. 1, 2015, implementation date for Tier 4 emissions.

General Electric was able to generate and bank credits by the use of its Energy Saving Design Features such as Distributed Power and Consist Manager on existing GE locomotives. These credits can then be applied to new locomotives to offset the difference between the differing emission requirements of Tier 3 and Tier 4. Any locomotive built using credits will be labeled as such on the builders plate on the locomotive. General Electric also has a handful of orders this year for non-Tier locomotives to North American customers, which can only be used in locations outside of the U.S.

General Electric plans to build only Credit User and non-Tier locomotive during the first part of 2015, and begin the switchover to production to Tier 4 locomotives beginning in the second quarter of this year. Industry observers expect that GE will continue to build Credit User locomotives though at least 2016.

Class I railroads have also announced their upcoming 2015 locomotive purchases in the latest quarterly earnings call to investors. Only two railroads are sitting out this year for new locomotive purchases – Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific. The rest will be acquiring new power this year, mainly from General Electric, totaling almost 900 locomotives. The one exception: Kansas City Southern will receive 25 Tier 3 units from each EMD and GE, for exclusive use in Mexico.

	2015 locomotive orders:
BNSF	310
CN	90
CSX	200
KCS	50
UP	218

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