In August 2021, we completed our 1,000th remanufactured locomotive at plants in Fort Worth, Texas, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Contagem, Brazil since the modernization program began in 2015. The milestone unit went to Norfolk Southern, who has received more than 500 remanufactured locomotives from Wabtec. These 1990s-vintage 4,000hp locomotives are rebuilt into 4,400hp A.C. traction units.
When the units have been remanufactured, A.C. traction, improvements in truck design, and new standardized control systems allow Norfolk Southern to carry out trips using two rebuilt units when it would have required three older models to achieve the same task.
While U.S. modernizations are a vital aspect of our decarbonization efforts, sustainability efforts demand global action. In June of 2022, we recently announced an agreement to modernize locomotives for Fortescue Metals Group, which is our very first delivery of Wabtec’s modernized locomotives for an Australian customer.