Hydrogen fuel cell locomotive in development
An experimental hydrogen fuel cell switch locomotive is under development by two cooperating companies - BNSF Railway and Vehicle Projects. Field testing is scheduled to start later this year.
The fuel cell locomotive has the potential to reduce air pollution, is not dependent on oil for fuel, and could serve as a mobile backup power source for military and civilian disaster relief efforts.
'At BNSF, we believe that it is good business to minimize our impact on the planet and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the communities we serve,' said Craig Hill, vice president, BNSF Mechanical and Value Engineering.
'While it's not a proven technology and the project is still in its infancy, we believe investments like the fuel cell switch locomotive are important for the advancement of new technology,' he said.
'As a nation, two widely-accepted issues are global climate change and energy insecurity, which have a common factor - oil,' said Arnold Miller, president, Vehicle Projects.
'The world burns millions of barrels of oil for energy, and the waste carbon is then emitted to the atmosphere. Because they don't rely on oil as a fuel source, fuel cells solve these two issues. Along with our principal partners, BNSF and the U.S. Army, we at Vehicle Projects are developing proof-of-concept hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that are leading the way to this new technology,' Miller said.
Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, said, 'I'm pleased to have been working for the past two years to procure funding for the fuel cell locomotive. The progress that BNSF and Vehicle Projects are making in its development is remarkable, and their work is helping to wean America off foreign oil.'
A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, BNSF Railway operates one of the largest North American rail networks, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces.
Rail is the most fuel efficient mode of surface transportation, moving a ton of freight more than 400 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel, the railway company said in a statement, adding that each BNSF intermodal train on the rails can take more than 300 long-haul trucks off the highways.
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