BOCA RATON, Fla.– RailAmerica, Inc. announced that its Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad (DGNO) is the first of its 42 roads to put the new N-ViroMotives to work on the line.
The DGNO purchased two N-ViroMotives from National Railway Equipment Co. to help reduce fuel costs and lower emissions. Each locomotive is powered by two diesel engine-generator sets that produce 700 horsepower each; if they sit idle for more than 20 minutes, the engines shut down and can be restarted automatically by positioning the reverser lever, which controls the locomotive’s direction of movement.
“We are quite happy to be the first RailAmerica road to get these locomotives,” says John Rogers, Chief Mechanical Officer for the DGNO. “They are ultra-low emission-certified, which means we’re doing our part to protect the air quality. We’re also very satisfied with their performance.”
Funded in part by a TERP grant — which stands for Texas Emissions Reduction Plan — from the North-Central Texas Council of Governments, the DGNO’s N-ViroMotives:
- Reduce nitrous oxide and particulate matter emissions by 80 percent
- Improve tractive effort adhesion efficiency by 50-65 percent
- Allow for 35-50 percent average fuel savings
- Have microprocessor-based controls and modularized mechanical platforms which help decrease maintenance by 50 percent or more
- Achieve stringent noise-level regulations for off-road equipment
Roger Robinson, Director of Locomotive Operations at RailAmerica’s Boca Raton headquarters, says the company is definitely looking to expand the N-ViroMotives to its other roads.
“Reducing costs and emissions output are not only good for our business and our customers’ business, they are good for the environment,” he said. “We look forward to adding more of these environmentally-friendly locomotives to our roads across North America.”
— Business Wire
