Railfanning.org News Wire

DANVILLE, Ill. – During a ceremony here, FreightCar America delivered the 100,000th aluminum railcar produced by the company. The milestone car, a BethGon II railcar for carrying coal, was part of an order totaling 2,695 cars for NRG Energy, Inc. of Princeton, N.J. Executives from NRG and FreightCar America attended the ceremony along with state and local officials. “The first new railcar we ever built in Danville was for an NRG predecessor company,” said Kenneth D. Bridges, FreightCar America’s senior vice president of operations. “Remarkably, NRG is now accepting the 100,000th aluminum railcar here.” Since 1997, NRG has acquired over

OAKLAND, Calif. – Union Pacific Railroad has begun a year-long test in an Oakland rail yard to determine if an experimental after market exhaust system filter will reduce diesel engine emissions in older railroad locomotives. “Our goal is to find innovative methods of further reducing exhaust emissions to create a better environment,” said Bob Grimaila, Union Pacific’s vice president for environment and safety. A 1,500-horsepower yard locomotive built in November 1982 has been retrofitted with diesel particulate filters or “DPFs.” The DPF initiative is the result of a four-year program, funded in part by Union Pacific, to assess exhaust after

WASHINGTON – Public comments are being sought for a project to replace, repair, or retain a 96-year-old railroad bridge on the heavily congested Northeast Corridor connecting the Newark, N.J., and New York. The Federal Railroad Administration and New Jersey Transit will jointly prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS), in cooperation with Amtrak, to study improvements to enhance capacity and operation of the Amtrak-owned Portal Bridge that spans the Hackensack River. Originally constructed in 1910, the bridge is nearing the end of its projected lifespan, officials say. “Because of the bridge’s critical role in the successful operation of the Northeast Corridor,